Managing waste

Rubbish collectors, their carts are not going to fade into background, effort needs to be made for integrating them.

As our cities expand so does the volume of waste they produce. They expand laterally rather than vertically in the absence of proper planning and the management of waste, which has hitherto been by a mix of formal and informal means, becomes a major challenge. The gathering of waste and its disposal provides employment to countless thousands across the country, but the cities are seeking to professionalise their waste management — a move that has done nothing to ease the burdens of the poor families that earn their living by picking it up.

The clash of ‘old’ waste management methods and ‘new’ is perhaps, best exemplified by Lahore. The Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has contracted with two Turkish companies to deliver a door-to-door waste collection and disposal service, a service that it is hoped will extend to the entire city eventually. At first glance this is a step in the right direction, but to be truly successful the concerns of the poor families that earn their living by picking up this waste must be taken into account. In all, there may be as many as 200,000 people engaged in the waste collection business in Lahore, mostly working as small family units with a single donkey and cart. Each unit contracts to pick rubbish from a group of houses, typically around 150, which pay Rs70 a month for the service. The rubbish collectors have a secondary income derived from sorting the rubbish into recyclable — and therefore saleable — goods. There are mixed feelings among residents and shopkeepers, who do not find the 7 am pickup offered by the Turkish contractors to be convenient; and prefer the ‘old’ system. The rubbish collectors and their carts are not just going to fade into the background and an effort needs to be made on the part of the city administration to examine the possibility of integrating the informal workforce into the collection process. Old and new can coexist, but a little creative thinking is required if we are not to see a very large number of people rendered destitute by the advances of modernity.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2014.

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