Eye-sore

Problem Statement

Garbage is a major problem in many other developing countries. In Pakistan, over 50% of garbage is not disposed properly – being left in open spaces, dumped into/near water bodies or burnt outdoors. Many cities, such as Karachi, Faisalabad, Hyderabad and Peshawar produce more garbage than is removed by municipal and local authorities. As a result garbage piles up on roadsides, open lots, alley ways and like, being both a health hazard and an eyesore. Even the garbage that is removed is inadequately recycled. The result is damage to the environment, a lost opportunity to create jobs for people involved with sorting, recycling and proper disposal. A study carried by Research Gate found that for most major cities in Pakistan, only about 50% of the garbage is being collected. More recently, in 2014, the Environment Ministry of Pakistan has estimated that the country produces about 20,000 tons of garbage daily, with Karachi alone accounting for about 9000 tons per daily. In the interim period between the two studies cited above, garbage collection in Karachi and other cities (with possible exception of Lahore) has likely deteriorated and can have lasting negative impact. The intent of this project is to do an assessment of garbage collection in various major cities of Pakistan to identify opportunities for improvements in a collaborative fashion between citizens, NGOs, universities and government agencies.

Deliverables

The output of this project is a report covering the following areas:

  1. Mapping garbage flow from home to landfill including intermediate collection and storage points.
  2. Better understand of the current logistics, pick-up schedules and collection capacity versus the amount generated.
  3. Process for sorting the garbage at source, or further downstream
  4. Handling, recycling and disposal of garbage once it arrives at major sorting point or landfill
  5. Review best practices developed by cities such as Lahore, where garbage piles on street-sides are less common.
  6. Collaboration and responsibilities of various state, local and municipal bodies responsible for garbage removal and disposal.
  7. Participation of private sector and NGOs in helping make our cities clean.
  8. Government regulations and guidelines
  9. Current and ongoing investments, education efforts and best practices developed by local communities.

This project is intended to run for about four months from Mar 2016 to December 2016. The will be a status update provided every two weeks, an intermediate report in January, and final report at the end of the first quarter. A summarized version of the report will be published on this website, and the full document posted for downloading. This is based on Sawayra’s charter as a non-profit, humanitarian organization. Sharing information will allow us to seek partners and maximize the value and impact of our projects.

For More Informaton: info@sawayra.org

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