Being the sixth most populated country in the world, there is a lot of consumerism in Pakistan and a great deal of waste is produced. Like other developing countries, the waste management sector in Pakistan is plagued by a wide variety of social, cultural, legislative and economic issues.
More waste is being produced than the number of facilities available to manage it. Pakistan generates about 48.5 million tons of solid waste a year, which has been increasing more than 2 percent annually. The government estimates that 87,000 tons of solid waste is generated per day, mostly from major metropolitan areas.
Karachi generates more than 13,500 tons of municipal waste daily. All major cities face enormous challenges in managing urban waste. Bureaucratic hurdles, lack of urban planning, inadequate waste management equipment and low public awareness contribute to the problem. Much of Pakistan’s solid waste does not reach final disposal sites. In developed countries, most solid waste generated winds up in landfills, incinerators, or other recycling centers while in Pakistan, much of the waste generated is recovered for recycling, mostly by scavengers, before it ever reaches disposal points.
Karachi utilises three sanitary landfill sites, Lahore has two while other major cities plan to build proper landfill sites. In Punjab, Lahore is the only city with a proper solid waste management, treatment and disposal system, outsourced to Turkish companies while similar systems are planned for other big Punjab cities.
In Sindh, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) initiated the Infrastructure and Service Delivery Reform Program and provided $400 million to the Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Program (SCIP) to improve solid waste management services in 20 secondary cities. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) is planning to build a sanitary landfill. Balochistan has no significant infrastructure for waste management system.
Due to the multiple factors contributing to solid waste accumulation, the problem has become so large it is beyond the capacity of municipalities.
Laws and enforcement need to be revised and implemented. The responsibility for future change is in the hands of both the government and waste practices in Pakistan need to be improved. This can start with awareness to the public of health and environmental impacts that dumped and exposed waste causes. It is imperative for the greater public to become environmentally educated, have a change in attitude and take action.
Many societies across the world separate household waste into different streams such as paper, glass, metal and organic or green waste. Clean waste segregated so it can be fully reused as opposed to mixed waste, such as what we have in Pakistan, which contains bacteria and residue and uses a considerable amount of energy and resources to segregate later.
Households in Pakistan do not segregate waste because there is a lack of awareness of benefits as well as investment in separate bins with organic and inorganic materials tossed in together. This means that recyclable materials such as paper and plastic become contaminated reducing their quality and usefulness.
Pakistan lacks a waste management infrastructure, creating serious environmental problems. Most municipal waste is either burned, dumped or buried on vacant lots, threatening the health and welfare of the general population. Among the biggest challenges facing Pakistan as it seeks to confront this issue is a lack of legislation or substantial policy for the management of hazardous waste, as well as an absence of adequate inventories of chemicals present in the country. The weak institutional capacity continues to be a hurdle in the implementation of these international agreements.
Citizens are not aware of the relationship between reckless waste disposal leading to environmental and public health problems. As a result of these problems, waste is accumulating and building on roadsides, canals, and other common areas. Among the already few landfill sites that are present, even fewer are in operation while even Islamabad has no permanent landfills.
To help tackle this problem, Pakistan is partnering with the Chemicals and Waste Management Programme on an ambitious three-year project to strengthen institutional capacity and develop a sustainable chemical and hazardous waste management policy.
To initiate the process for developing national policy regulations and other guidelines, relevant stakeholders like ministries, departments, agencies, development sectors, industries, and researchers will be identified and consulted on the most pressing issues confronting Pakistan’s chemicals and waste management. These groups will help support the government in a nationwide survey to identify the source and extent of chemicals in Pakistan.
Recycling is among the most effective means through which solid waste can be reduced and natural resources can be conserved by reusing materials and putting them back into productive use. While Pakistan does not have formal recycling facilities, an informal recycling industry continues to thrive. For Pakistan, banning plastics and unrecyclable products is the only real solution. There are places in Africa and cities in India which have managed to eliminate plastic and we can emulate this model.
Rezwanullah, School of Management and Economics, at Beijing Institute of Technology also contributed to this article.
