Pilot project launched to recycle trash into fertilizer

The Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) on Thursday initiated a pilot project ‘Hariyali Hub’ at District Keamari’s Baldia Garbage Transfer Station (GTA) with UK-based agency Tearfund for recycling rubbish.

According to details shared by the SSWMB, 21 tons of fertilizer will be produced with the initiation of the Hariyali Hub project. The board’s managing director said university students would also benefit from the project, whose launching ceremony was chaired by Channa and Tearfund’s Martin Leach.

According to the details shared by the board, plastic in the rubbish will be separated and recycled. For this purpose, the UK-based agency will start the Haryali Hub project. The SSWMB and Tearfund have selected a few union councils of the Malir and Keamari districts for testing, with plans to later replicate the recycling programme in other UCs as well. Another purpose of the project is to spread awareness among the public.

The total area of trenches dug for the project is 10,550 square feet, having a capacity to hold at least 80 tons of garbage. The SSWMB will collect dry and wet garbage separately from the UCs and provide it to the agency at the Baldia GTS. For this purpose, the board has run campaigns in specific UCs to make sure that residents learn how to separate dry and wet garbage before disposing it to the board.

The wet garbage will be kept in trenches and once it is dried and converted into fertilizer, it would be sold. The entire process, according to the board, is of 40 days. Channa said that after the success of this project, it would be spread to all districts of Karachi, Hyderabad and even in Larkana. With the recycling of garbage, he said, not only would environment be made clean but it would be made sure that garbage was brought under use again.