Secretary says improper disposal of hazardous waste major threat to environment .
Pollution Engineerings, the Malaysian company, group managing director (GMD) Tony YC Liew expressed the interest in a meeting with the Climate Change Ministry officials on Friday.
Liew gave a presentation on the scope and benefits of hazardous waste management in Pakistan and offered his company’s services to Pakistan in the area.
“We are ready to provide services in wastewater treatment and recycling system, solid waste treatment system, sewage treatment, energy generation from waste, installation of hazardous waste disposal facilities, cleaning of rivers and sea, and help on green technologies,” Liew said.
“We will support the Pollution Engineerings to launch waste management projects, bring relevant technology, and capacity-building of the relevant departments in Pakistan,” said Climate Change Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan, who chaired the meeting.
“Hazardous waste has become a major cause of escalating environmental degradation in Pakistan. Industries, hospitals, and agriculture sector generate enormous hazardous waste without its proper management. This trend is damaging environment and polluting our water resources,” Khan said.
“Our streets and roads reflect well the grim situation of waste management, which has become a source of stinking smell, contaminate water bodies, and polluted air and land,” he said and added that the hospital waste has become a grave threat to the environment, most of which is disposed of improperly.
He pledged to take action against hospitals disposing of waste improperly.
Khan stressed the need for a mechanism to monitor hospitals’ waste management, and bring the violators to book. He said that every hospital must make allocations in their budgets for proper waste management.
Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta, DG environment and climate change at the ministry, called for making incineration a national policy option, engaging all provincial environmental protection agencies (EPAs). He said that it was upsetting that practically nothing was being done anywhere in the country for disposing of waste properly and environment-friendly manners.
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) Director-General Dr Khursheed Ahmed told the meeting that there are around 300 hospitals, clinics, and laboratories disposing of hazardous improperly in Islamabad.
“There is also a need for setting standards for incineration process, for most of the existing waste incineration processes in hospitals are not up to the mark,” he said.
The meeting was also attended by Pollution Engineering Pakistan chief executive Amir Younus and Pollution Engineering Director Oh Ying Ying.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2015.
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