The Hunza district, declared in 2020 the first plastic-free district in the country, has moved another step forward by installing a compressing and bailing machine for plastics and paper waste management.

Located on Karakoram Highway at an altitude of 2,500 metres above sea level, Hunza is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Pakistan with almost 1.2 million tourists having visited the region in 2018. Launched in 2019, Clean Hunza Project is part of Hunza district council’s initiative on waste management, in partnership with Nestlé Pakistan, Gilgit Baltistan Waste Management Company (GBWMC) and KADO (Karakoram Area Development Organisation).

The compressing and bailing machine will be used to compress all types of recyclable plastics and paper waste to be transferred to a recycling facility in Islamabad. Sultan Madad, the chairperson of KADO, tells The News on Sunday (TNS) that the first shipment of 4,000 kilograms of plastic compressed bails has been dispatched to Islamabad for recycling.

“The compressing and bailing machine will certainly help us cover the previous gap between waste minimisation and solid waste management”, he says.

Pakistan generates approximately 48.5 million tonnes of solid waste a year, which has been increasing by more than 2 percent annually. Out of which, 9 percent is plastic and 6 percent is paper waste. Plastic Manufacturers’ Association of Pakistan’s data shows that Pakistan produces 50,438 tonnes of MSW (municipal solid waste) of which 67 percent is organic, 5 percent paper and 18 percent plastic.

Pakistan has the highest percentage of mismanaged plastic in South Asia. The percentage of plastic waste is much higher than in India (2 percent), Sri Lanka (6 percent), Bangladesh (7 percent), and Iran (11 percent).

Plastic waste can be divided into two types: recyclable and non-recyclable. Non-recyclable plastic waste commonly includes single-use plastic bags that are generally made of non-degradable low-density polyethylene (LDP/LDPE). This low-density plastic is normally used in plastic bags that take between 100 and 600 years to decompose.

However, recyclable material, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), is the major contributor to plastic waste. As per a World Bank report, beverages and packaging industries are the main producers of PET waste.

Recycling of PET bottles was almost non-existent in Pakistan till late ’90s, and most of the solid waste could be seen scattered on the streets. The recycled PET can be made into fiber for carpets; fabric for T-shirts or fleece jackets; fibrefill for sleeping bags, winter coats, and dog beds; industrial strapping; sheet and thermoformed (clam shell) packaging; and automotive parts such as headliners, bumpers, and door panels.

“Pakistan lacks waste management infrastructure. Municipalities are engaging in informal solid waste management,” says Sardar Asif Ali Sial, environmentalist.

“The compressing and bailing machine will certainly help us cover the previous gap between waste minimisation and solid waste management”, says Sultan Madad.

He says that “all major cities” face enormous challenges on how to manage urban waste; these include lack of urban planning, inadequate waste management equipment and low public awareness.

To move towards United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 12 and 17, Pakistan has issued a (Statutory Regulatory Order) SRO to ban the plastic bags in Federal Capital Islamabad and some other cities including Lahore and Hunza.

Currently, there is no policy framework, at the federal and the provincial levels to address the aspects of single-use plastics and plastic waste management in a broader domain, says Sial.

“Clean Hunza Project focuses on a waste segregation and recycling system for Hunza by encouraging waste management of 200,000 kilograms of plastics in 2021, eventually leading up to 1,000 tonnes by 2025 to [help] make Hunza waste-free and promote sustainable tourism in the region”, says Faiz Ahmed, the deputy commissioner of Hunza.

Ahmed believes that this public-private partnership will help make the district absolutely plastic-free.

“We are planning to initiate this project for other districts of Gilgit-Baltistan as well,” he adds.

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé have been named the world’s top plastic polluters for the third year in a row by Break Free from Plastic in its annual audit.

To fulfil its corporate social responsibility (CSR), Nestlé Pakistan recently stepped up their efforts under the Clean Hunza Project by installing a machine for bailing and compressing packaging waste in Hunza.

Highlighting Nestlé’s global vision for a waste-free future, Waqar Ahmad, the head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Nestlé Pakistan says, “Nestlé Pakistan is accelerating its contributions to reduce the environmental impact of various kinds of packaging waste. Our vision is that none of our packaging, including plastics, ends up in landfills or in oceans, lakes and rivers.”

“Tackling packaging waste requires a collective approach and we are committed to finding improved solutions to reduce, reuse and recycle. To achieve this, we have set [for] ourselves the commitment of ensuring 100 percent of our packaging is reusable or recyclable by 2025. This initiative is a step in that direction,” he adds.

Most municipal waste is either burnt, dumped or buried on vacant lots, threatening the health and welfare of the general population. Environmentalists show grave concerns that without having inadequate waste management systems, the problem will increase with the increase in population and industrialisation.

“Plastic waste has tremendous human health impacts and needs to be addressed as a priority. Unfortunately, limited work has been done to counter this very serious issue, especially on air and water pollution due to plastics in Pakistan”, says Sial.

The author is a staff member. He can be reached at warraichshehryar@gmail.com