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Report 5 of 5:
Waste
Busters - Pakistan
Introduction
Increases in population and migration into cities have created serious environmental problems including inadequate solid and liquid waste management, lack of safe water and minimal pollution control. Many southern cities are characterised by overcrowded housing, contaminated water supplies and lack of proper sewage disposal, drainage or waste collection, all of which contribute to an unhealthy urban environment. Communities living near dump sites also suffer the nuisance of smoke and smells, and such sites – as well as uncollected waste in general – attract rodents and flies which provide a transmission route for disease.
Cities in developing countries have to deal with increasing quantities of waste – items generated and discarded as rubbish by households, commercial and industrial institutions, and hospital waste. Developing countries produce on average between 300 and 600 grams of municipal waste, per person, per day. For many cities in the South, uncollected solid waste has become a major health hazard, yet municipal waste management services may only collect as little as 25% of the total refuse produced.
Solid waste management in Pakistan
Solid waste management problems in Pakistan increased after the Second World War due to the use of disposable items, such as plastic bags etc., which cause drainage problems. The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Department of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) estimates that only 50% of the city’s daily generation of 7,000 tons of rubbish is collected from the streets by the municipal service, while the rest remains at collection points and on dump sites. As the urban environment in Pakistan continues to deteriorate, there is growing recognition of the need for a sanitation policy and sound operational strategies for dealing with the problem.
The formal sector of SWM comprises the government agencies which provide SWM services, such as the municipal service. Informal sector activities are those which are not regulated and controlled by government agencies, either in the form of the recycling enterprises of itinerant waste buyers and dealers or through self employed (private) and municipal sweepers collecting solid waste against an agreed payment from households.
The waste management system
Informal recycling of domestic waste can be divided into two broad categories:
- Waste picking in streets, communal bins, transfer points and disposal sites.
- Waste separation at the household stage and selling onto itinerant waste buyers.
In both cases, the waste passes through a number of dealers involved in trading and recycling, before ultimately reaching the recycling industry. All the activities provide jobs or additional income to a significant amount of people.
The waste management system starts from the households and ends with the disposal or reuse of the materials. Municipal waste collection begins with sweeping and kerb side collection. This waste is then removed using hand-carts/tricycles to large on road collection points where it is transported by vehicles to the disposal sites.
Major quantities of re-saleable waste components are separated either at source or at the stage when the waste is transported for disposal. The material is then sold at the household level, with payment made on the basis of the weight of each individual material. It is traded and recycled through an established network of waste pickers, dealers, wholesalers and recyclers. Alternatively, primary waste is removed from the households by sweepers and disposed at transfer points (where the transfer of waste from small collection vehicles is made to larger transport equipment).
The informal sector
There are independent operators dealing in waste collection, purchase, separation, restoration, resale and recycling, with the scale of operations ranging from itinerant manual workers to large recycling factories.
Kabaris are large-scale waste dealers who operate from shops and warehouses. There are approximately 1,000 in Karachi and most specialise in just one type of waste which they buy at auctions or from middle dealers and resell to recycling plants, or recycle themselves.
The Safai Kamai Bank operates every Tuesday from a bazaar in Karachi and uses the slogan "Garbage is Gold". People can bring their dry garbage for sale on a per kilogram basis – the price paid depends on the item. Items purchased include newspapers, other paper waste, plastic bags, metal, glass and plastic bottles.
Waste Busters collect rubbish from households and charge about US$2 a month, which includes the delivery of about 30 rubbish bags. The refuse is taken to the transfer station where it is sorted out and loaded onto trucks for recycling.
A local NGO, Pakistan Environment Welfare and Recycling Program (PEWARP), has established a small production unit manufacturing three organic products from waste purchased from itinerant buyers at Karachi’s huge vegetable market. The vegetable waste is crushed and the liquid extract collected which results in liquid concentrate sold as a pesticide, dilute liquid sold as fertiliser and solid residue.
Shehri, a Karachi based NGO, also known as ‘Citizens for a Better Environment’ is primarily concerned with the protection and conservation of the natural and built environment. It has produced recommendations for improved bin designs and promotes awareness on solid waste management.
Recycling waste materials
The separation practices are well established and, as a result, quantities of certain waste components, such as bottles, newspapers, plastic, food waste and aluminium cans etc. are considerably reduced in the waste stream. Once re-saleable waste components have been separated from waste they are considered to be raw materials:
| Waste material |
Common reuse and recycling |
| Broken glass |
Glass bottles |
| Bottles |
Washed and used again |
| Bread |
Livestock feed |
| Newspapers |
Various types of packing |
| Ferrous metal |
Recycled in re-rolling mills |
| Paper |
Cardboard etc. |
| Aluminium |
Re-melt in moulds for various industries |
| Plastics |
Uses/recycling depends upon type: toys, shoe soles, shopping bags, sandals etc. |
| Plastic bags |
Buckets and other household containers |
| Magazines, books |
Sold again at reduced prices |
| Old furniture |
Sold again at reduced prices |
For further information, please contact:
Water and Sanitation Program – South Asia,
World Bank,
PO Box 1025,
Shahrah-e-Jamhuriat,
Ramna (G-5/1),
Islamabad,
Pakistan.
Tel: +92 51 819781-6
Fax: +92 51 826362
E-mail: ansar@worldbank.org |
WEDC,
Loughborough University,
Loughborough,
Leicestershire,
LE11 3TU,
United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0) 1509 222885
Fax: +44 (0) 1509 211079
E-mail: WEDC@lboro.ac.uk
Website: www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cv/wedc |
Intermediate Technology Development Group would like to thank the Water, Engineering & Development Centre (WEDC) at Loughborough University, in particular Mansoor Ali, Mariëlle Snell and Andy Cotton, for providing the original information on solid waste management.
This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the DFID.
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