More than 90pc waste produced in Karachi stays in Karachi

Karachi
The largest city of Pakistan produces 20,000 tons of solid waste every day but only 2,000 tons of it is actually transported to the landfill sites situated just outside Karachi.
The rest of it is dumped and burnt inside the city, mostly in the two main drainage channels — Lyari and Malir rivers — from where the garbage is now spilling outside, besides other smaller drains and open dumps situated in and around residential areas.
The city of 22 million people — already barely grappling with the prevalence of Neagleria Fowleri, dengue fever and polio virus — is on the verge of a much greater public health catastrophe. The criminal silence of Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and negligence of Karachi’s municipal authorities enables the dumping and subsequent burning of at least 18,000 tons of solid waste in the city’s drainage channels, open spaces and abandoned grounds for the past several months.
The 20,000 tons of solid waste produced in the city every day needs to disposed of properly at the two designated landfill sites situated outside the city — Jam Chakro and Gonpass — by the District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) concerned after collecting garbage from within their respective jurisdictions.
However, hardly 2,000 tons of garbage actually makes it out of the city while the remaining keeps piling up on the streets, roads and other open spaces.
In fact, the maximum capacity of DMCs to collect solid waste and dump it at the designated landfill sites is only 50 percent of the total amount produced and while whatever is left behind remains within the remits of the city, admitted Waqar Phulpoto, director technical at SEPA.
When asked why no action was being taken against the DMCs and municipal officials by the environmental watchdog, Phulpoto said the departments concerned cited “lack of resources” including financial or logistical constraints, such as the unavailability of fuel or machinery, as impediments in the collection of garbage and dumping it at the designated landfill sites.Last year the provincial government set up the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SWMB) and mandates it to hire private contractors for collection of garbage from households and businesses across the city, and its subsequent recycling, utilisation for energy production and adequate disposal. However, the board has yet to assume its responsibility and start functioning.
Moreover, instead of assuming responsibility of the board, its managing director Roshan Ali Shaikh called upon the municipal authorities last Thursday to stop dumping solid waste in rivers and nullahs, and also burning it within the remit of the city.
“Transport the solid waste to landfill sites instead of burning it near residential areas since the air pollution caused by burning of thousands of tons of garbage results in asthma, skin ailments, sinusitis and allergic reactions to many,” he had said while talking to a group of journalists at his office a few days ago.
The board still faces an acute shortage of staff and resources while its own affairs are being managed from a rented facility. However, once fully functional, the SWMB will remove all garbage dumps within Karachi.
“We are planning to outsource the collection and dumping of garbage to the designated landfill sites and in this regard, some national and international companies have expressed their interest,” Shaikh had claimed.
Like his predecessors, Roshan Ali Shaikh too reiterated claims that Chinese companies had shown interest in producing electricity from garbage and producing biogas from hundreds of tons of cow dung generated in the city. However, he gave no date or timeline as to when these proposals would materialise.
On the other hand, Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui also admitted that solid waste was being dumped inside the city. But he went on to claim that he would soon initiate stern action against municipal authorities involved in this unhealthy and illegal practice, on the directives of the chief minister.
“In the coming days, you will see stringent action against all the officials involved in dumping and burning of garbage within the city,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, informed citizens believe that unless a local government system starts functioning in the city, there can be little improvement in the problem. They were of the view that the government was neither capable of resolving issues of the public nor did they have any sense of responsibility about their own duties.
“Fortunately, the local government elections are now less than a week away. The elected representatives will be in a much better position for serving the masses as compared to these government officials,” said Irfan Ahmed who is a resident of Gulshan-e-Iqbal town.