SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN:
Introduction:
Solid waste in Pakistan is generally composed of plastic and rubber,
metal, paper and cardboard, textile waste, glass, food waste, animal
waste, leaves, grass, straws and fodder, bones, wood, stones and fines
to various extents. Solid waste in Pakistan cities currently averages only
50% of waste quantities generated. According to 2004 solid waste
generation on basis of population Its estimated that 54888 tons per day
of solid waste is generated in Pakistan.
The amount of waste contains; Ash, bricks, and dirt -18%, Glass - 6%,
Textile -2%, Cardboard - 7%, Food wastes -30%, Leather -1%, Paper -6%,
Plastic -9%, Rubber -1%, Metal -4%, Wood -2%, Yard wastes - 14%.
Some common diseases by solid waste are:
1.Skin and eye infections are common
2.Dust in the air at dumpsites can cause breathing problems in children
and adults.
3.Flies breed on uncovered piles of rotting garbage and spread diseases
like diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, hepatitis, and cholera
4.Mosquitoes transmit many types of diseases like malaria and yellow
fever.
5.Dogs, cats and rats living around carry a variety of diseases including
plague and flea born fever.
6.Intestinal, parasitic and skin diseases are found in workers engaged in
collecting refuse.
There is a lack of waste disposal facilities in the country. Currently,
individuals dispose of waste by throwing away plastic bags, wrappers,
fruit peels, cigarette butts, etc. Following must be a course of action to
deal this issue:
Littering spreads pollution and ends up clogging drains and causing
sanitation problems, this can be controlled by making roadside dustbins
or proper disposal of waste at home.If proper waste management is
practiced, this waste could be converted into useful products.
Main problems regarding solid waste management in Pakistan are:
1.There is no proper waste collection system.
2.Waste is dumped on the streets.
3.Different types of waste are not collected separately.
4.There are no controlled sanitary landfill sites.
5.Citizens are not aware of the relationship between ways of disposing
of waste and the resulting environmental and public health problems.
SOLUTIONS:
we can apply 3R [RRR] formula REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.
Reduce:
The best way to reduce waste is not to produce it in the first place.
Everyone should try to reduce his / her consumption of goods as much
as possible. For example, choose products with minimum packaging and
instead of accepting plastic bags when shopping, use cloth / canvas
bags.
Reuse:
Items should not just be thrown away after use if they can be used
again. Items like glass jars, bottles, and plastic bags can be reused.
Recycle:
Recycling results in creating new things from already used items. Almost
20-30 percent of MSW contains materials which could be recycled.
Or we can learn from the countries that are top in solid waste
management (SWM):
Austria used advanced technological solutions like waste-to-energy
plants. (Recycling)
Japan awareness on SWM its introduction and disease that occur due to
it. We can use awareness posters everywhere pictures of benefits green
and clean environment and of disease that occur due to not following
these instructions in reduction of SWM.
Germany Implemented stringent regulations and advanced recycling
technologies.
Singapore put strict policies on all those who didn’t follow the rules and
laws in reduction of SWM.
We should learn from these countries to save our environment and our
people from various diseases as mentioned above by using solutions
provided above.
MENTOR/SUPERVISOR:
PROFESSOR DR. TANWEER HUSSAIN
MUREED HUSSAIN
20ME006
