Up to 87pc of waste generated in Karachi recyclable, says Murtaza Wahab

Up to 87 per cent of the 15,000 tonnes of municipal waste generated daily in Karachi is recyclable, but instead of doing the recycling this trash is disposed of on the roadsides in Karachi.

The disclosure to this effect was made by Sindh Law and Environment Adviser, Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Thursday as he presided over a conference held at the NED University of Engineering & Technology in collaboration with the UN Habitat to mark the upcoming World Environment Day.

He said still the old system of municipal waste disposal was being practised in two districts, namely Korangi and Central, in Karachi. He said a modern system of municipal waste disposal was being practised in the rest of the five districts of Karachi.

Wahab said an application had been pending with the federal government for the last five years to increase the water quota of Sindh. He conceded that Karachi had been facing grave environmental challenges due to haphazard and unchecked expansion of residential areas and a rapid increase in the population.

He said the Sindh government had introduced a number of steps for providing services related to solid waste management, upgrading of civic services, municipal services and improvement of the environmental conditions. The government had also been taking steps to fulfil the food, water and energy needs of the people of the province as the availability of these essential services had become a challenge due to climate change, he added.

The environment adviser said the provincial government had been taking steps to restore storm water drains and introduce a proper system of municipal waste disposal in Karachi. He said big cities and governments all over the world had been acting on the policy to recycle and reuse the most part of their garbage so as to effectively deal with the issue of urban waste. An effective system of municipal waste disposal would ensure improvement in environmental conditions with an increase in greenery in the country.