Daily Times

Waste management has been a pressing issue especially since the last decade or two, after our urban as well as rural settlements were overpopulated. At places where humans fight for place there is very limited space for waste. Waste is what is left of any commodity after we humans have enjoyed its benefits. Unlike the developed world, we feel no responsibility for the waste we create.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on September 25, 2018, announced the launch of a country wide

‘Cleanliness Movement’ from October 7, 2018. We still wait for details about this movement, however, considering that only a few days are left before the launch of such a mega movement; it can be concluded that such drawing room plans rarely succeed and most of the time create some other unprecedented problems.

The diligent ex-chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif fell victim to the myth of achieving everything in zero time with the help of sophisticated plans. He was successful in cleaning Lahore mainly because it was his seat, other than Lahore only Bahawalpur performed well regarding waste management during his last tenure. All other major cities could not succeed, not because their intentions were bad, but because their systems became too complex, too politicised and they could not find a suitable place to dispose the collected waste.

Many governments in past tried to resolve this problem. Their approach was more focused on waste relocation rather than planned waste management. Waste was collected in one way or another, and taken out of urban dwellings (no services for rural). This approach just shifted the location of the problem and indeed magnified it at the dumping sites, threatening our ground water and air quality.

In Pakistan, approximately 80 thousand tons of municipal i.e. household waste is produced each day. This excludes industrial, hospital and agricultural waste. Punjab with almost half of the country’s population produces half of this waste and about 20 thousand tons of it is produced in rural settlements of Punjab. Our main focus is generally big cities, small to medium, rural and semi urban settlements are filled with heaps and mountains of solid waste.

Cluster based infrastructural development should be done (e.g. Regional Landfills and Transfer Stations) to include all urban and rural areas, along with community involvement to use solid waste management as an earning potential (e.g. composting and use of Black Soldier Fly Larvae as poultry and fish feed) should be made part of the strategy. The community would then own the waste and related costs on transport and disposal would also decrease. Lastly, environmental education should be a part of the curriculum

Cleanliness drives have become more of a political event rather than a solution. In fact, it has created a much bigger double-edged sword. When such movements actualise after every 3-5 years, people and governments feel that the waste problem will be handled after some time, so they stop worrying about the accumulation of waste in their cities. Secondly such drives bring together large quantities of waste without any ecological or geological consideration that might get threatened due to water and air pollution.

However, the best approach towards waste management is to create ‘waste culture’ among people in which people take responsibility for the waste they produce. They contribute both in terms of their time and money. They segregate the waste in to usable categories like recyclables and organic waste. Authorities should introduce separate waste stream collections just like any developed country. As we are quite far from this ideal situation, especially in terms of government policies; we need to come up with medium term solutions that focus on short-term cleanliness movements.

Our Prime Minister must understand that waste production is not a one-time activity. Therefore, one-time cleanliness movement won’t be of any help. Waste is produced every minute, it requires technological, financial and socially feasible solutions.

There is also a lack of policy at central and provincial level. Decisions regarding waste management always change as per the liking of decision makers, due to international technical tours or flashy presentations of foreign companies. May we try to follow the example of Ankara where no waste disposal site (landfill) exists, as all their waste is changed to energy (except demolition waste).

We must understand that having such a facility for Lahore alone needs an investment of USD 350 million and a time frame of 10 years, if NEPRA also facilitates the energy sale. There is no quick fix to this problem.

The government should seriously devise a medium and long-term policy for waste. This policy should pave the way for a strategy resulting in development of plans that can practically be implemented. It took almost half a century for Germany to achieve their present day level. Whilst, we look at the end results, and always forget the journey behind reaching that stage. We’ll need financial, technical and human resources, capable of to making this happen. We luckily don’t lack any of these locally.

Imran Khan with all his good intentions and willingness to address the core problems should not fall prey to the hype of one-time events. It is required that decision makers take time and with the help of experts, put the waste train on the right track to save the future of the people. The government should consider establishing a ‘Waste Management Unit’ at the central level to avoid wastage of resources and prepare comprehensive long-term (35 years) waste management strategies including waste collection, transport and safe disposal along with a financial plan. They should also form laws and policies to regulate waste management.

Moreover, cluster based infrastructural development should be done (e.g. Regional Landfills and Transfer Stations) to include all urban and rural areas, along with community involvement to use solid waste management as an earning potential (e.g. composting and use of Black Soldier Fly Larvae as poultry and fish feed) should be made part of the strategy. The community would then own the waste and related costs on transport and disposal would also decrease. Lastly, environmental education should be a part of the curriculum.

It must not be forgotten that while we are trying to clean our cities, the successful developed countries along with their citizens are keeping their spaces clean.

The writer is working as a senior specialist at the Urban Unit Lahore. He can be reached at azharuup@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, October 5^th 2018.