Garrison city: Where is the dustbin?
DESIGN: CREATIVE TEAM
“Where should we throw the waste when the bins get filled?” said Aslam Ghani, a resident of Pirwadhai, while dumping waste outside.
Though Rawalpindi Solid Waste Management (RSWM) is lifting the garbage, it has proved insufficient.
The RSWM has its own set of complaints. “We have not been provided machinery, nor fresh recruitment has been made since 1990,” said Sanitation inspector Qadeer Butt. Currently, the department comprises of 2,000 employees including sanitation staff, drivers and inspectors — and they don’t seem enough to cover the areas under RSWM. Besides, the department is facing funding problems.
Long distances and old machinery is another problem. Each truck covers 70 plus kilometres per day which is why most of the trucks develop serious faults. The population has quadrupled but the machinery is the same in number. There are only 80 containers (big waste bins) and 300 open lifting points for over an estimated 1.5 million people.
The district administration had earlier entered into an agreement with a private company, Waste Management of Pakistan (WMP), but after eight months of hectic negotiations, the idea was shelved. The district coordination officer Sajid Zafar could not provide updates when asked.
Recently, the government has earmarked Rs1 billion for the solid waste management of the city. But so far the funds have not been released nor have the companies formally started work on streamlining the waste deposal.
An incinerator has been installed at Holy Family to recycle chemical waste generated from three allied hospitals. However, there are over 70 private hospitals and clinics throughout the city, which mostly dump chemical wastes in open spaces.
There is no machinery to separate degradable, non-degradable and chemical waste, and waste dumped by private hospital is mixed.
Dr Tariq Mehmood, Chairman Environmental Sciences Department, Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, said the government can generate funds worth billions by recycling degradable waste. He said that a waste bin must be installed outside eight to 10 houses and these houses must be fined for throwing waste outside.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 11th, 2014.