Assignment Top Sheet

Department of Civil Engineering & Technology

Student Name; Instructor Name ;

Muhammad Kamran Engr. Hina Zaib

Registration No; Assignment No;

BECV-023R18-18 04

Subject Name Section Semester

Environmental Engineering A 8th

Topic;
A Study for Better Solid Waste Management in Karachi

Total Marks; Obtained Marks

10

Signature: Date: 15-07-2022

Statement:

Karachi is the biggest city of Pakistan having a population of approximately 24

million. Statistics indicate that on a daily basis, about 12,000 tons of solid waste is
generated in Karachi alone, of which forty percent can be found on the city
streets. Improper management of solid waste is causing the spread of infectious
diseases and environmental pollution. Using the knowledge of municipal solid
waste collection, its composition & role of Moisture content in Municipal Solid
Waste (MSW) in design & construction of solid waste landfills suggest viable
solution(s) in your opinion to overcome this problem.
Introduction

Solid Waste Management in Karachi

Karachi, located on the south coast of Pakistan, is a metropolitan city that houses more
than 20 million people (Statistics, 2017). This city is also considered the business hub of
Pakistan with an ever-growing rate of commercial activities. Although it is considered a
megacity, Karachi has its fair share of problems including the discrepancies in the solid
waste management system.

In fact, ‘Karachi has seen an upward trajectory in its solid waste, from 2000 tonnes per
day before 1974 to 6000 tonnes in 2001. By 2005, it had leapfrogged to 9000 tonnes per
day, and, now, it stands at a staggering 12000 tonnes per day’. The rate of generation of
solid waste has also changed in Karachi in recent years due to the booming population,
coupled with increased urbanization, lifestyle changes, a rise in fast-food chains, and
commercial activities.

The large rural influx into Karachi, mass migrations, and overpopulation mean that
there is also a decline in the basic urban resources such as housing, clean water, and
sewerage systems. This has also resulted in the rise in Katchi Abadis (squatter
settlements), which account for more than 30% of Karachi’s population (Guideline for
Solid Waste Management, 2005).

Moreover, people living in Katchi Abadis are deprived of solid waste disposal facilities,
hence they dump solid waste in natural drains, streets, parks, or even in varying open
areas. The municipal institutions, on the other hand, do not have sufficient resources to
manage the needs of the growing population plus the lack of planning, financial, and
technological constraints add to the problem of solid waste management in Karachi.

Karachi only has had four master plans for the city since 1947, and all of them have
failed to reach the development, planning, and solid waste management targets
including the latest plan, that is, the Karachi Development plan 2020. The new plan is
now also on the verge of failing. 

There has also been an increase in fast-food restaurants in the 21st century, which has
exacerbated the solid waste generation and disposal problems. Many ‘smaller
restaurants and businesses mostly do not adhere to the relevant policies towards
hygiene and health and dispose of solid waste out in the open’.

For instance, municipal officials claimed that they cleaned the Tariq road commercial
areas twice a day, and yet they would find waste scattered all around the shops the very
next morning (Ghouri, 2015). As a result ‘the refuse management is deteriorating in
Karachi, as bridges, roads, localities are constantly surrounded by solid waste’

Problem Statement

Illegal dumping also leads to the open burning of waste at various points around the
city, which is extremely harmful to the health and well-being of the citizens — and for
the environment. Some even started burning their waste, which is now increasing the
levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere.
The air quality has deteriorated in Karachi due to the open burning of waste, and the
same has led to health problems ‘such as respiratory diseases, chest infections, and
coughing. Improper waste management has also added to waterborne diseases such as
gastric problems and hepatitis’. Solid waste negatively impacts water quality and leads
to soil pollution, climate change, and adverse effects on flora and fauna.

Keeping in mind the same, there is an urgent need to halt illegal dumping and outdoor
burning of waste, which causes smoke, environmental degradation and also results in
diseases. Solid waste effects are most evident in Katchi Abadis and the trash problems
there have deadly consequences. Al Jazeera (2017) reports that three children in one of
these squatter settlements died when a garbage pile caught fire in an alley next to their
home.

People living in Katchi Abadis also have to bear the consequences of the poor waste
management system more than anyone else as heaps of garbage are piled up near their
homes. This results in vector-borne diseases, that is, diseases caused by insects and
rodents (like malaria and chikungunya) which affect the health and well-being of the
people residing there.

The environmentalist critic rightfully calls the link between the impact of pollution and
health problems as slow violence which is often inflicted upon the marginalized and
poor people, like the plight of improper solid waste management on the Katchi Abadi
residents in Karachi.

Current System of Waste Management

In Karachi, the responsibility of waste collection and transportation falls under Town
Administrators, and treatment and disposal of refuse are handled by the City District
Government (CDGK). Under the CDGK fall two cantonment boards, the Karachi
Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), and the District Municipal Corporation (DMC).

These two controlled the solid waste management system in Karachi up until 2014, and
then ‘under the Sindh Act No. 4 of 2014, the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board
(SSWM) was formed which became responsible for the solid waste management of
areas that fell under KMC’. Furthermore under the City district Government (CDGK),
‘Karachi is split into six districts with further divisions into 18 sub-districts or tehsils,
and every tehsil is administratively separated into 178 union councils which manage
the solid waste of their areas’.

Also, the disposal system in Karachi is divided into three main phases: 

FEC (Front-end collection): The collection of waste from muhalla kachra kundis, union
council kachra kundis, and street bins.

GTS (Garbage-transfer station): These are big grounds that are used to dump garbage
collection from FECs, and serve as a facility to sort recyclables ideally.

LFS (Landfill sites): Where waste is dumped under the land. Karachi has only two
functional landfill sites: five hundred acres of land each on the Northern Bypass side,
namely Deh Pass Gondal and Deh Jam Chakro (Baseline Study for Solid Waste
Management-Karachi, n.d.).
However, ‘out of the 9000 tonnes of municipal waste generated every day in Karachi,
only sixty percent is discarded in the landfills, and the other forty percent remains on
the streets around us’

Main Problem Areas

Citizens and Municipalities

In the formal solid waste management system, there are two major stakeholders: the
citizens and municipalities. However, both the parties blame each other for the
discrepancies in the solid waste management system as ‘according to the Secretary of
SSWMB, 80% of garbage is lifted from the grounds to be dumped into garbage-transfer
stations, and later on, it is transferred to landfill sites.

According to the survey on solid waste management conducted, 74.8% of the

population is not satisfied with the government’s efforts in countering the disposal
problem, 23.7% is unsure, while a mere 1.5% approve’ . Citizens are dissatisfied with
the strategies of the municipal authorities regarding solid waste management; many
citizens do not trust the authorities and believe that they do not have enough resources,
funds, or equipment to tackle the growing sewerage and waste problems.

Citizens also believe that municipal authorities only perform their duties in rich
neighborhoods and not the poor ones where the people are not able to afford their
services and cannot pay 200 hundred rupees every month for the garbage collection. It
is, however, a right of every citizen, rich or poor, to live in a clean environment

Municipal authorities, on the other hand, believe that they alone cannot handle the
waste problems of a whole city and believe that citizens should play their part.
Authorities complain that citizens throw garbage at any nearby convenient point.
Authorities also believe that citizens do not take responsibility for waste management
beyond their homes and constantly litter the roads and other public areas.

However, they forget that many people live below the poverty line in Karachi and
cannot afford the expense of waste collectors. This is mainly why they engage in illegal
dumping of waste

Challenges Facing the Formal System of Waste Management

Municipal authorities are also facing several challenges as solid waste collection and
storage facilities are inadequate. There are very few communal bins provided across the
city, and those also low capacity and poor maintenance. The municipalities also do not
collect the waste regularly, and the waste starts to decay and pollute the environment.
The sweepers often find it convenient to dump the solid waste in drains and open plots .

There are other problems faced by the authorities as well in collecting garbage from
roads and streets as the large trucks available to the town administrators cannot enter
small alleys and housing areas. The vehicles used for transporting the waste are
outdated as well, and they breakdown frequently. Moreover, the funds for regular
maintenance are limited, and the trucks take a long time for maintenance, which halts
the waste collection services further. 
‘Refuse vehicles (often uncovered) make 2 to 3 trips per day to dump sites, often with a
round trip distance of more than 60 km’ as the landfill sites are far away from the
garbage transfer stations. As a result, less than one-third of the waste is reaching the
officially owned and designated disposal sites, and the rest either disperses from open
trucks or is taken to the unofficial disposal sites .

The municipal personnel involved in solid waste management are also not trained
properly. The manual system of the waste collection means that the number of
sweepers is also largely disproportionate i.e. ‘1.06 sweepers per 1000 persons’.
Additionally, the government’s budget allocation for solid waste management is also
limited. High rates of corruption amongst authorities lead to poor results as well.
Therefore, there is a need to change current policies and improve the waste
management system overall.

Problems of Landfill Sites

The landfill sites in Karachi are treated as dumping grounds for all sorts of waste, and as
a result, they have become saturated. ‘Landfill sites are not properly equipped and there
is only one site working with just one weighing station. It needs up to 10 minutes for
each dumper to unload and if it works for 24 hours a day, it still cannot unload more
than 144 dumpers, resulting in dumping of approximately 4,500 tons while the
generation is around 9000 tonnes’

Current policies and the Role of Stakeholders 

The Sindh government has formulated policies to halt littering and illegal dumping in
Karachi. However, these policies have not affected the problem of littering and illegal
dumping; since there is little to no implementation. Also, the fines are set too low to
deter the citizens and the sweepers from dumping their waste openly.

Since the informal system of waste management includes the scavenging and informal
recycling industry as well, not taking them into account in policymaking disrupts the
whole system of waste management. The general public and opposition parties are in
favor of changing the existing policies. The civil society and certain NGOs, like Fixit, are
working to improve the conditions of waste management on their own.

Alternatives

Social Interventions 

Increase awareness about environmental degradation, as well as the detrimental effects

of illegal waste dumping, plastic use, and burning waste on the health of the general
public.

Increase emphasis on 3Rs (Reduce, reuse, recycle), and encourage recycling at home —
which would help salvage more material from the overall garbage. Sorting at the source
will also help reduce the burden on the solid waste system.

Encourage educational institutes to increase awareness among students. This can be

done by arranging garbage collection for students through volunteer programs like
clean-up drives. Students can also be taught and encouraged to recycle waste at homes.
New Legislations

Ban single-use plastic in supermarkets and commercial areas.

Ban plastic consumption as much as possible. This has already been done in Malir Cantt
(an area in Karachi). This can be done by educating and encouraging people to use
alternates (for example tote bags).

Implement proper fines/punishment for littering. The fine for littering is a paltry 200
rupees, and imprisonment of six months. However, the implementation is non-existent.
Some policymakers have suggested that the fine should be increased to up to 50,000
rupees, while others have expressed the need for increased implementation of the
existing punishment.

Create mechanisms for citizens’ participation and consultation alongside engaging in

increased dialogue with civic organizations working towards the same agend.

Increase transparency for the public, and the government. ‘There should be more
transparency between the masses and the government as the public does not have easy
access to the information about either the factors leading to pollution or the steps taken
by the government to improve the situation. Also, updated computerized data should be
maintained for the government, as it will help enhance the management of the ongoing
projects’. The data available on the quantity and quality of the waste generated and
collected is inaccurate and underestimated, and it should be recalculated to undertake
the management of solid waste accordingly.

Use technology to eradicate the problem. SSWMB introduced an app to resolve waste
issues in Karachi but it has been launched for only two districts as of now.

Hire and train the right number of people to manage waste effectively.

Form a board, where all the landowners of Karachi can be given membership. In this
way, they can collectively work on the problem and help each other in terms of using
innovative techniques to counter the solid waste problem .

Reduce the gap between different departments and authorities to avoid management
lapses.

Composting and Recycling of Waste

‘Encourage garbage recycling in households and sabzi mandis. For instance, the use of
vegetable biomass as a fertilizer for the production of vegetables and fruits; and as food
for livestock should be encouraged’.

Give incentive to private companies like TrashIt to increase their scale of operations (as
they are already in the composting business).

Make and implement agreements with foreign companies, private recycling companies,
and informal waste pickers to effectively tackle the refuse problem.
Analysis of the alternatives

The alternatives suggested above would help improve citizens’ conduct, as well as
increase the process efficiency and appropriate legislation would help alleviate the
problem even further. However, poor planning, lack of awareness, and inadequate funds
have made the implementation of the alternatives suggested above very difficult.

Also, the contracts with recycling companies, even Chinese contractors, have not
reached fruition due to the lack of political will. These alternatives have not become
policies because of varying political agendas, and because of the current gap between
the federal and provincial governments.

Recommendations

Improving the generation, composition, and storage of refuse

Sorting of recyclables like paper, glass, and metal should be done at source (domestic
and commercial) .

Garbage composting should be done in households to grow organic fruits and

vegetables.

The garbage from sabzi mandis should be transferred to farming areas as fertilizer for
organic farming. Moreover, the installation of biogas plants at sabzi mandis can be done
by private companies to produce gas efficiently.

Increasing awareness of composting methods and recycling in public should be done

through mass media and social media, alongside collaborations with notable religious
scholars to increase awareness about waste management, and the importance of
cleanliness.  

Compulsory sessions and classes in educational institutions should be conducted to

increase awareness around waste management.

There should be a ban on plastic in Karachi in terms of both production and

consumption.

Subsidies for companies like TrashIt should be announced to encourage composting on

a large scale and also for small-scale producers to develop alternatives to plastic and
shopping bags.

Contracts should be entered into with private companies, e.g. Waste Buster in Lahore,
which can provide separate bins in each community for recyclables and non-recyclables.
This would help sort the waste at the source rather than at the garbage transfer
stations.

Investments should be made (through public-private partnerships) to purchase

adequate transport vehicles and  also to  automate the manual waste collection system

Accountability of municipal staff should be increased, along with fines on illegal

dumping and the budget of waste management in Karachi.
There should be a moderate increase in garbage collection charges from the richer parts
of the city – and the same money can be used to fund the garbage collection in the
squatter settlements.