INNOVATIVE APPROACHES FOR

SOLID WASTE MANAGMENT IN PAKISTAN

Saadullah Ayaz
EFR COORDINATOR- IUCN Pakistan

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Solid Waste Management Situation~
main challenges in urban areas of Pakistan?

Solid Waste generation in Pak

(Source: Ministry of Environment 2004)

Total Production= 20.024 million tones/ year

or 59 thousand tones/ day (approx)
(discluding 3% hazardous waste)

Per capita= 0.61 kg/ day (average for cities)

0.23 kg/capita/day (avg. sub- urban and rural areas)

Growth rate= 2.4% per year (approx)

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Waste composition (% weight)
(sample: 6 cities Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta)
(Source: Ministry of Environment 2004)

Type of Solid waste Percentage by weight

Food waste (kitchen garbage, vegetables, fruits) 21.7

Yard waste (braches/ twigs, leaves/ grass) 17.1
Animal waste 9.1
Soil/ rubble 9.2
Textile based material 7.4
Plastics (all types) 7.1
Glass 6.27
Paper 6.0
Rubber (tyres, gaskets, old footwear) 5.3
Wood (lumber, wood products/ residue) 3.2
Hospital waste 2.1
Ferrous metal (iron, steel, tins) 1.8
Non- ferrous metal (aluminum, copper, brass, lead) <1
Bones and ash <1
Ceramics <1
Other waste <1

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Methods for Disposal
Average taken of five cities
Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi/ Islamabad and Peshawar
(Source: Ministry of Environment 2004)

Practice Percentage by weight

MSW brought to designated dumping site 28.6

Garbage thrown in open spaces 27.8
Dumped in or near water bodies/ drainage 16.3
Rubbish burned in the open 10.4
Collected recyclables 7.23
Composting (formal and informal) 5. 21
Brought to a sanitary landfill (Lahore only) 4.20

Collection coverage

52- 69 percent in cities

3-9.4 percent in sub- urban and rural areas

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Recycling Situation/ Industry

- Almost 20-30 percent of solid waste in Pakistan is recycled

- Recycling is done informally and not regulated anywhere in Pakistan~

no basic recycling rules available

- Mostly done by scavengers, who sell these recyclables of scrap

merchants

- No formal recycling industry exists, these material are recycled as

additional raw material by production industry (small industry)

- Major recycled items include; paper, plastic, glass, metal (iron,

aluminum, lead)

- Rubber/ tyres are used as additive fuel in brick kiln industry

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Government of Pakistan Policies and Programmes
on Solid Waste Management

National Environmental Policy, Gov. of Pakistan (2005) Clause 3.3

states “solid waste may be prevented and reduced) and proposes;

a. Strict enforcement of National Environmental Quality Standards and

Monitoring and Reporting System,

g. Encourage reduction, recycling and reusing of Municipal Solid Waste,

i. Develop and enforce rules and regulations for proper management of

municipal, hazardous and hospital waste,

Programme: Ministry of Health, Gov. of Pakistan launched a waste

management plan (May 2009) for hospital waste in all provinces of Pakistan
with cost of PKR. 1.6 Billion

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 CDM project in in Pakistan (SWM)
(only One)
Composting of Organic Content of Municipal Solid Waste in
Lahore, Pakistan

Methodology: Approved baseline and monitoring methodology

AM0025 version 9. Titled “Avoided emissions from
organic waste through alternative waste treatment
processes”
Objectives:
- Produce organic fertilizer from solid municipal organic waste through state
of the art aerobic windrow type composting technology.

- To help in achieving the objectives of combating climate change under

UNFCCC by reducing significant amount of greenhouse gas (Methane)
emissions and contributes to the regional and national sustainable
development.

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

Host Country Approval: August 2008

Project Owner: Lahore Compost (Pvt) Limited

Project Sponsors: Lahore Compost (Pvt) Limited

IBRD as trustee of the Danish Carbon Fund
Saif Holdings Limited

Cost: US$ 5.5 million

Emission reduction: 7844 tones CO2 eqv./ year

Carbon buyers: Open market+ Danish Carbon Fund+ World Bank

Current status: under registration with UNFCCC, Executive Board

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

Sustainability/ Social benefits of the project:

- Reduce GHG emissions

- Production of cheap organic fertilizer ~ agriculture development

- Transfer of modern technology (state of art Menart technology)

- Increases skilled labor opportunities (about 80 full-time jobs)

- Improving the environment quality of Lahore city

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Examples of innovative approaches in SWM

Pilot on “Participatory Solid Waste Management” under Project

‘Building Coalitions for Change to Implement Pro-Poor Environmental
Fiscal Reforms (EFR)’ (IUCN 2009)

Target area: Nawanshehr town, district Abbottabad

Objective: Development and operationalization of a Participatory Solid

Waste Management System for Pro- poor Fiscal Reforms
Components:
i. Social Mobilization: dialogue with community groups, youth
associations, shopkeepers, school children and
women folks,Operationalization of a Youth Forum
Citizens’ seminar, targeted meetings, door to door
campaign, distribution of awareness raising material

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

ii. Social Organization
62 community activists (male and female) involved, trained in PSWM
Environmental Committees in 7 hamlets constituted (headed by lane
manger and supported by community activists)
Trainings imparted on waste collection/ disposal, collectables/
recyclables, compositing/ kitchen gardening, route planning for waste
collection, dumping after 24 hrs.

iii. Improved measures for primary collection

9 beads developed (comprising of 100- 120 houses)
Privately hired community waste collectors in 9 hamlets
Improved outturn/ equipment of waste collectors (including safety gear)
practice of dumping after 24 hrs.

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

iv. Improved secondary collection system
Route planning for collection, preparation of area maps
Improved tools/ equipment
Modern properly designated permanent waste dumping sites (09)
Improvisation of waste dumping trolley for efficiency (hydraulic system)

v. Introduction of Pro- Poor Fiscal Instruments in SWM

Revenue generation from recyclables in 7 schools

Community hired waste collector (paid through contribution)

Composting practice/ kitchen gardening (total 19)

Regulation of waste merchants (18 Nos.) tax being paid to local
administration

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Mobilization through Seminars

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Training Community activists

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 School children in collection of recyclables

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Kitchen gardening (from Compost)

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Improved door- to door collection,
improved tools and turn out of sanitary workers
IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature
 New concreted collection points

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 New hydraulic dumping trolley

IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature

 Results
IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature