| Abstract | Lahore, one of the two mega cities of Pakistan and the provincial capital of Punjab
province, is a center of economic and industrial activities and is confronted with the
solid waste management (SWM) problem. At present, the city of Lahore generates
about 3850 metric tons with a generation rate of about 0.55 kg/capita per day.
Management of organic waste is emerging as a crucial issue in Lahore as major
component of waste is organic in nature.
The study was conducted with the main objective to explore the current waste
recycling and reuse practices as composting in Lahore. The suitability of solid waste
for composting was delved into and its potential for the composting in Lahore was
investigated through supply and demand framework for waste based compost.
Economic comparison of composting and landfilling was also made. Data were
collected through semi-structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and
interviews of key personnel and visual imaging. The questionnaire surveys were
conducted in two areas namely Union Councils 17, 18, 19 and 20 in urban area and in
Minhala village to represent supply and demand side respectively for waste based
compost.
Waste recycling and reuse offers a substantial solution to the waste management
problems. Waste recycling however is not yet well-established or widely practised.
Some of the waste recycling practices being followed include the waste recycling in
glass industries, junkshops, waste recovery centers and iron and steel industry, which
process varied amount of waste. Maj or portion of the total waste generated is organic
in nature (70 %), thus, organic waste management is important for overall SWM.
Organic waste recycling includes a minute quantity of organic waste being, recycled
at household level, used for composting by Parks and Horticultural Authority (PHA)
and composted by Waste Busters (WB) - a private enterprise - to produce 10 tons per
day of compost. Chemical and physical composition of the solid waste of Lahore is
suitable for composting and it is also found to be economically and environmentally
beneficial in terms of its comparison with the landfilling.
The supply side investigations reveal that the all important waste separation at source -
for composting potential to be realized - is still not a well established practice. However
questionnaire survey suggests that motivation for waste separation at source is very high
(77%). Among 77 percent, 71 percent are willing to separate waste under certain
conditions and 6 percent are willing to separate without any condition. Waste separation
in Lahore can indeed be increased if waste collection system is improved, appropriate
waste bins are provided, separate organic waste collection is ensured and public
education is provided to increase responsibility on environmental protection by waste
separation at household level. All these point to if appropriate laws are enforced,
required policies and programmes are designed and implemented, and public awareness
campaigns are launched, the supply side of compost will work. The estimate undertaken
in this study shows that about 416,318 tons of compost can be produced per year. This is
based on the supply of organic waste from Lahore urban areas.
Investigations of demand side suggest the demand for compost on the village side is
quite high: 77 percent of respondents showed their willingness to buy compost with
certain conditions and 7 percent showed their willingness to buy compost without any
condition. The demand for the compost can be increased further if price is kept lower
and convenient availability is ensured. Many respondents want to make trial before using
the new produced compost. Other influencing factors include the proper guidelines for
using compost and its better quality. The demand of 2754 tons per year of compost in the
model village was determined by regression analysis. The demand will be quite
comparable with the supply of organic waste if the demand is determined for all villages
around the periphery of Lahore.
Based on the findings of the research, strategies for the promotion of compost are
proposed. Five major proposed strategies are: (1) waste separation at household
level, (2) product quality control and pricing, (3) production and facility issues and
specification of end users, ( 4) promotion and marketing, (5) sales and distribution.
Stakeholder cooperation (national and local government, NGOs, residents, concerned
organization and SWMD) is the major consideration for the implementation of these
strategies. |