Plant designed to recycle waste in Sahiwal

LAHORE : The Urban Unit has designed a waste management plant in Sahiwal that segregates the waste and turns kitchen waste into fertiliser.

Briefing media on Sahiwal Waste Management Plan, Asif Iqbal, General Manager Solid Waste Management, a PhD scholar and an expert in the field, overseeing this project said, “At present the plant is recycling 36 tonnes of waste in a day, in one shift. Going at this rate, Urban Unit has estimated the revenue from sale of recyclables and compost over three months to be over Rs5.76 million which will be over Rs8.2 million when the plant will process 50 t/d (ton per day) as targeted.

The benefits of Sahiwal facility are that it is saving the landfill cost and reducing surface and groundwater pollution. The saving on landfill handling costs (indirect saving on 60pc waste diversion) comes to Rs1.4 million per month. It will also sustain the local eco system, bio-diversity and habitat.

Ninety per cent of this plant is made locally. All that needs to be done is replication, the expert said, adding, “This project has great potential. It can be replicated in other cities of the Punjab and in the nine towns of Lahore”.

The challenge is compost marketing. Urban Unit may have to give fertiliser for free to farmers at first to gain their confidence. The farmers will get the fertiliser for Rs9 per/kg. The organic fertiliser will give better quality vegetables and fruits. Parks and Horticulture Authority Sahiwal may also use it for all its plants.

Urban Unit, which is part of Planning and Development Board, Government of Punjab, has operationalised the facility for 3 months. Operations started on July 10, 2023. Total number of staff deployed here is 28. Urban Unit plans to hand over the plant to the Municipal Corporation (MC) of Sahiwal which will run its operations while Urban Unit will provide technical support. The plant will be transferred to the MC on October 10.

Asif Iqbal has proposed three options; the MCL can run the operations or a private company can also do so or there can be a service level agreement (SLA) with any government agency.

The waste segregation and composting plant is 5km from Sahiwal city. There are six compactors. The plant’s life is 25 years. Life of vehicles that transport the waste is 7 years. Two dedicated vehicles of the municipal corporation pick and transport the waste generated by 300,000 population of Sahiwal to the plant. Paper, plastic and glass are manually segregated while dust is separated mechanically.

Of the waste, polythene bags are in largest quantity. Tetra pack waste is also in good quantity. The third largest waste is textile waste while 5 to 6 kg metal waste is recovered every day. All these are recyclable. What cannot be recycled are diapers which constitute 14 percent of the waste. There is no solution to it yet. Germany is doing research on it though.

Pakistan has been given a target under National Determined Contributors (NDCs) to reduce CO2 emission. This plant will reduce emission by 1.3 million kg of CO-2 per month. The segregated water, polythene, plastic, paper etc. can be used as a substitute to coal.