Brick kiln/factory near Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan


There are around 20,000 brick kilns in Pakistan. Many factories are located around urban areas and contribute significantly to air pollution. Pakistan’s brick sector is highly unregulated and uncoordinated; it produces of Pakistan’s GDP. million people work on kilns across the country. Laborers make bricks in harsh, hazardous conditions. For almost all of them, there is no end in sight to their misery. Workers are required to produce 1,000 bricks a day for which they receive ca. 1,000 rupees (approximately $6). To make bricks, soil is mixed by hand with water and kneaded into a dough which is then placed into brick-shaped moulds. After being dried in the open, they are baked in kilns where temperatures reach 1100C. Traditional brick production in Pakistan consists of hand-made bricks which are baked in Fixed Chimney Bull's Trench Kilns (FCBTK), the most widely used brick firing technology in South Asia. The kilns use coal as fuel, billowing black smoke that is inhaled by those who work and live on the kilns. Smoke that is breathed in by workers and nearby communities. This is one of the most contaminating techniques for brick production, resulting in a host of social and environmental impacts including air pollution, climate change, cardio-respiratory diseases, land use impacts and deforestation.


Size: 5568px × 3712px
Location: near Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Photo credit: © François-Olivier Dommergues / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: air, asia, bake, baked, black, brick, brick-shaped, bricks, british, coal, communities, conditions, diseases, dough, empire, environment, environmental, factories, factory, fuel, hand-, harsh, hazardous, impact, kiln, kilns, laborer, laborers, labourer, labourers, lahore, misery, mix, mixed, mould, moulds, pakistan, pollution, poverty, production, smoke, soil, subcontinent, traditional, uncoordinated, unregulated, water, worker, workers