Pakistan is drowning in waste, but not the kind most people talk about. According to the UN Comtrade database, every year the country produces 49.6 million tonnes of waste. Out of this mountain of refuse, 62 per cent is organic waste, 30 per cent is construction and demolition debris, and a mere 4 per cent, about 2.7 million tonnes, is plastic.
Yet in the national conversation, one would think plastic is our only waste problem. Without any formal waste management system, without segregation at source and without end-of-life planning for any waste stream, Pakistan has been chasing headline-friendly bans on plastic bags, the lowest-hanging fruit, while ignoring the bigger, deadlier parts of our waste crisis.
Pakistan’s per capita plastic consumption stands between 7 and 7.5 kg per year. According to the OECD Global Plastic Outlook Report, the per capita plastic consumption in the US is 130 kg, Canada at 127 kg, Germany at 125 kg, Japan at 129 kg, and even regional South Asian countries like India at 12 kg and Sri Lanka at 8 kg.
By this measure, Pakistan is not a high plastic consumer, and our recycling rate is abysmally low, at only 7.6 to 7.8 per cent. However, compared to the global recycling rate average of 9.0 per cent, our rate is still better. What little recycling exists is driven not by state systems but by some private sector companies, small and medium enterprises, startups, and the informal sector, including waste pickers and junk dealers. The plastic or PET bottles fare slightly better as 80 to 90 percent are collected and recycled, often turned into polyester for upcycled clothing or other plastic resin products which is again sold to SMEs or startups.
The real challenge lies not in our consumption numbers but in our capacity as we lack formal recycling infrastructure for complex plastics, especially those types that lie under resin codes 4–7 (difficult to recycle) such as styrofoam, bubble wraps, straws, egg cartons and disposable cutlery, which are both hazardous and non-recyclable under our current system. We also lack the means to process multi-layer packaging, although a few startups and SME companies such as Concept Loop and Dastaan-e-Rumaan are upcycling such materials into products.
Adding to this is a disturbing trend: Pakistan is increasingly becoming a dumping ground for imported plastic waste, without proper classification, sorting, or end-use controls. In 2024, the country imported plastic worth $5.3 billion but exported only $930 million, a staggering trade imbalance in a sector where we bear the environmental costs of other nations’ consumption.
If plastics make up only 4.0 per cent of our total waste, why does it dominate our waste discourse? The largest waste streams are actually organic waste and construction waste, both of which are mismanaged to a dangerous degree. Within organic waste, food waste is the most visible and most heartbreaking. Pakistan is a food-insecure country, yet vast amounts of edible food are lost daily from restaurants, banquet halls, and caterers, where untouched cooked food often ends up in bins, while millions go to bed hungry.
We do not have any formal food banks operating under government-backed institutions that could recover this surplus food and channel it through SME companies, community-based organisations, and NGOs to the poor who lack access to adequate nutrition. Without such a formalised and regulated food redistribution system, the potential to feed hundreds of thousands of people daily is squandered.
In addition to this, the post-harvest losses are another silent crisis as Pakistan loses approximately Rs500 billion annually in major and minor crops due to poor storage, transport and handling. This waste is not just an economic loss; it becomes an environmental hazard as well when crop residues are routinely burned, contributing to the severe smog episodes, especially in Punjab. These residues have enormous circular economy potential, such as rice straw and husk, which can be used for bioenergy, briquettes, biochar, or packaging materials. Similarly, maize stalks can be converted to animal feed, compost or biofertiliser, while wheat chaff and straw can be used for mulching or compressed fodder.
On the contrary, fruit and vegetable scraps can be composted for kitchen gardens and organic farming. Many local SMEs, such as Trashit PK in Karachi, are already producing composting solutions by collecting kitchen waste and developing compost, which is then used for gardening solutions.
Also, the construction and demolition waste, which forms nearly a third of our total waste, remains outside the policy radar. It clogs drains, which becomes a cause of urban floods, piling up in open spaces and leaching pollutants into soil and water. Yet in many countries it is recycled into road base, aggregate, or construction blocks but in Pakistan it is simply dumped. This highlights the fundamental mismatch in our waste priorities, as the current policy response to waste, particularly plastics, primarily focuses on banning single-use plastic bags. Ironically, these are among the more recyclable forms of plastic. Without waste segregation, bans on plastics are little more than political theatre.
The segregation at source, separating organic, recyclable and hazardous waste, is the foundation of effective waste management; without it, recycling rates will remain stagnant, valuable materials will be lost, and landfill space will keep shrinking. Enforcement is inconsistent even in provinces where plastic bans exist; non-compliant bags are still in circulation due to weak monitoring and a lack of viable alternatives.
At the global stage, countries are negotiating a legally binding instrument on plastics at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) 5.2. For Pakistan, these talks are more than symbolic; they could shape the economics of waste management for decades. The uncomfortable truth is that high-income countries with massive per capita plastic consumption are fuelling global plastic demand. Many then export their waste to developing countries like Pakistan, externalising both environmental and financial costs.
This is where equity must enter the equation. As part of a Global Extended Consumer Responsibility framework, developed countries should pay a recycling fee to the developing nations receiving their waste to build local recycling infrastructure. The plastic credits should be generated by developing countries for processing imported and domestic plastic waste, and high-end plastic-producing developed international markets should be required to purchase these credits.
The revenue should be invested in waste segregation systems, sorting facilities, and recycling plants and this mechanism should become part of the Global Treaty on Plastics. Such a mechanism would align with SDG 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production and ensure that waste-exporting countries share responsibility for the afterlife of their products.
Pakistan’s waste crisis is a systems problem more than just a plastics problem. The country must implement segregation at source nationwide through waste management companies, private sector inclusion, backed by local bylaws, enforcement and awareness campaigns. It must prioritise the biggest waste streams, organic and construction waste, for resource recovery, composting and recycling, along with the plastics. The recycling infrastructure must be upgraded to handle complex plastics and hazardous waste streams through SME companies and startups that already have these solutions. The circular economy strategies for post-harvest residues, construction debris and food waste must be adopted to create jobs while reducing environmental impact. Pakistan must also advocate globally for equitable waste trade policies that make waste exporters pay for the safe processing of waste.
We can no longer afford to set waste priorities based on convenience or global trends divorced from local realities. Focusing narrowly on plastic bans while 92 per cent of our waste streams remain unmanaged is like mopping the floor while the tap is still running. If we truly want a cleaner, healthier, and more resilient Pakistan, our waste policy must start with the whole picture and not just the shiny plastic on top.
The writer is an environmental scientist and leads the programme on ecologicalsustainability and circular economy at SDPI. She tweets/posts @ZainabNaeem7
