A major problem in the country is garbage disposal.
Be it in big cities or villages, garbage, dirt and garbage are everywhere. To deal with this problem, there is an urgent need for long-term planning with an eye to the future where government agencies must make the best use of available resources.
In this context, there is also a need to inform the citizens about how they can help the relevant institutions by playing a role in cleaning their area and city.
“Lahore Waste Management Company” (LWMC) has initiated long-term planning in the light of world’s best models for sanitation, keeping in view the current problems and future challenges, as part of which citizens “Lahore Saaf To Pakistan Saaf” campaign is being run for awareness.
Chief Executive Officer Ali Annan Qamar is committed to the success of his projects. Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) is trying to establish an ideal environment for sanitation and garbage disposal in some parts of the city with the cooperation of the public, later to implement this model in other parts of the city and then in the whole city. should be done
Government institutions in other cities of the country also need to adopt modern methods for cleaning. To reform the situation, we should follow the method adopted by the developed countries of the world. The procedure is detailed as follows:
(1) Reducing the amount of waste
The first step is to reduce the amount of waste. This awareness should be spread among the people to generate minimum waste. Unfortunately, in our schools and even at home, children are not told that you should not throw garbage outside on the road, path or field. Don’t bother the children. Here, educated, sensible people throw garbage on the highway as well.
So you’ll see bottles and rapiers there too. The rest of the city is well known to the public. Boxes, tissue paper and plastic cups are found lying outside every shop.
(2) Segregation of waste
The second step is segregation. This means segregating waste. That is, food items separately, plastic, cardboard etc. separately and iron glass etc. separately. In other countries, garbage is not collected on a daily basis, but there are two or three days.
People collect the garbage from their houses and keep it outside on the same day and the municipal officials pick it up on those specific days. LWMC collects garbage thrice a day from different parts of the city due to negligence of citizens. There are morning, afternoon and night shifts here, but the whipping never ends.
Understand these two stages in simple words, if the garbage of your house is divided into three types, it will be divided into three categories. There is a kitchen garbage that includes vegetables, fruits, leftovers, bread, rice, etc.
They must separate us at all because it spoils all the rubbish going forward. The second is general waste, which includes plastic, packaging material, cardboard, cloth, etc. The third type of waste includes iron and glass etc.
In developed countries, this waste is put in three different colored garbage bags or thrown in these colored garbage cans. This reduces the amount of waste and disposes it according to its composition.
In the same context LWMC also started a tri-colour campaign in certain parts of the city on a trial basis, introducing three colors red, yellow and green. Green color is designated for natural waste (bread, curry, rice etc.).
Yellow color is for plastic and cardboard etc. while red color is prescribed for iron, glass etc. LWMC has started working with Government Officers Residence 6, Qurban Line Police, Chitral Line (Army Unit) and Walled City of Lahore to introduce this method in practice.
These four locations Sujhan Singh Street, Qurban Line, GOR 6 and Chitral Line were selected for the practical sample, as the discipline here is much better than other areas. Three colored boxes have been kept in these areas.
At present, the company is providing self-shoppers in the houses to put garbage in them according to these three colors, LWMC itself will pick up and dispose them and this model will be gradually implemented all over Lahore.
(3) Improvements in garbage collection systems
Then comes the turn of garbage collection. Our current system is not good. While cleaning the houses, all the garbage is collected outside the door and the kitchen bucket and household garbage are also thrown into it. Then the LWMC worker comes, sweeps around and collects all the garbage and puts it all in a container.
This container goes into the truck and in the same truck there is also the garbage collected from the area, which is taken to the temporary collection point TCP (Temporary Collection Point). Where soil, dust, garbage, water, tree branches, bricks are collected.
The bulldozer then picks up all the dirt and takes it outside the city to “Lakhodhir”, where it is compacted with soil. From household waste to TCP, we mix all the waste, the biggest disadvantage of which is that the value of the waste is lost.
Remember that waste has its own importance, some burn it and some want to recycle. What is important is that the garbage collection system should be improved. If the waste is segregated from the houses and handed over to LWMC in different colored containers, it can be dumped or recycled very easily.
(4) Beneficial utilization of waste
Various methods are practiced in the world for the beneficial use of waste. LWMC is already implementing some practices and others are being planned.
One method is to put a few tons of waste into a machine and do segregation, that is, plastic, wood, food items, iron, glass, etc. are separated and cut and dried in air.
It is watered, then taught, then watered so that it decomposes, it produces a fertilizer called “Belia”. By adding green waste (kitchen waste) to it, the effectiveness of fertilizer is improved.
In the world, waste is also used for obtaining energy (Waste to Energy). LWMC has contracted ENATE after approaching several companies for this purpose.
This company can generate 60 to 70 megawatts of electricity from two to three thousand tons of waste on a daily basis. Their rates are lower than WAPDA, the electricity generated by this company with an investment of Rs 30 crore will be used locally. “Sunder Industrial Estate”, “Metro Train” and “Quaid-e-Azam Knowledge Park” can be supplied with this electricity.
Besides, in this regard, discussions are also being held with them to take advantage of the expertise of the Chinese company CNEEC.
These companies have machinery that incinerates the waste at high temperatures, which destroys all plastic toxins and does not harm the environment. The dung in the waste can also be used. LWMC has approached two or three companies to make biogas from it and provide it to the local population.
LWMC has also taken other measures to reduce pollution and improve the sanitation situation in the city. Smog is very heavy in Lahore in winter.
For this, the roads were washed by filling water in big trucks so that the roads are clean and the dirt does not rise up. The small footpaths built between the roads and their sides caused a lot of traffic accumulation, which was specially cleaned.
Main roads of Lahore such as MM Alam Road, Mall Road, Ferozepur Road and Kunal Road are washed every night to reduce dirt. Bike squads are also being introduced to clean these highways.
These workers will pick up flying shoppers, empty boxes and other garbage and put them in the dust bin attached to the bike so that this garbage does not cause pollution and people are also aware that they should throw the garbage in the dust bin.
A project to clean dry leaves and other garbage using vacuum vehicles is also about to start. “Mahmoud Boti” garbage house has been covered with soil, now hundreds of plants will be planted around it to make it green.
“Just picking up garbage is not a miracle” Ali Anan Qamar
Ali Annan Qamar is a bureaucrat and current Chief Executive Officer of Lahore Waste Management Company. He is passionate about the cleanliness of the city and future plans. Talking in detail about his experiences and the challenges he faced, he said:
“Worked as deputy commissioner in three districts of Punjab, there we used to work in a limited circle, because we had a staff of 2500 employees with which we had to clean the entire city. When I came to Lahore Waste Management Company, I was told that we are picking up five thousand tons of waste on a daily basis.
One day I asked where does all this garbage go? I found that we have two locations for this purpose.
Earlier this garbage was thrown at a place in the area of ”Mahmoud Buti” in the suburbs of Lahore, now there is “Lakhodhir” for this purpose. I agreed to go there. When I reached there and saw the garbage, my fourteen classes became enlightened.
I was told that around 19 million tons of garbage is lying here. Which meant that in the last ten years, we have collected all the waste collected at these two sites.
When the “Lakh Dheer” was dug, plastic bags and Pampers were found lying down to three or four feet.
Seeing this whole scene, I realized that just picking up garbage is not a miracle, because the officers before me were also picking up and those who will come after me will do the same thing, but how to dispose of this garbage? Methane gas is being produced from this mountain.
After the analysis of “Lakhodhir” site, which is the world’s acceptable standard for methane gas, it was found that six times more methane gas is being produced here, which is very dangerous for us. This thing is not only spoiling the environment of Lahore but is a danger to the whole country and the world.
Secondly, the water flowing from the garbage mountains in “Lakhodhir” is very dirty, black and toxic, which is getting underground and mixing with clean water.
If we are satisfied thinking that the water of “Lakhodhir” is poisonous and that of Iqbal Town is clean, then it is our misunderstanding, because the poisonous water travels underground and mixes with the clean water.
We are putting motors in this water and spraying it again on the garbage so that this toxic water goes into the garbage instead of going into the ground and the clean water of the ground is protected from it.
We realized that we are not educating our people and our habits are not changing. Because just picking up the garbage is not a miracle, with the increase in population, the garbage will also increase. We had this goal in mind that our company is called “Lahore Waste Management Company” but we are not properly managing so much waste.
If this behavior continues, it will become more difficult to deal with this problem in the future. So we started researching about “waste management” and watched videos on YouTube. Special attention was paid to the “waste management” system of Australia and South America.
This is where we got to know the procedures and terminology used internationally about waste. In the light of which we want to take different steps here as well so that while adopting these successful models of the world, we also adopt modern methods of waste disposal. In this way, not only the current situation will improve, but it will also become easier to deal with this problem in the future.