College Research Papers and Essays

Literature Review

Can Solid Waste Management Help Karachi Move Towards a Circular Economy?

Karachi is the fourth largest city in the world and the largest city of Pakistan with a population of over 15 million. It is also the city that produces 42 per cent of Pakistan's total GDP and the metropolis whose inhabitants pervasively dump waste without worrying that their city is the dirtiest city in Pakistan. (Sabir, et al.,2016; Altaf, et al., 2015). Karachi produces 12,000 tons of garbage daily which ends up either in two major landfills, Gond Pass and Jam Chakro, or gets burned in empty plots, roadsides, baren grounds, and even parks! (Zeeshan, et al.,2018). Most of this burned waste consists of materials such as plastic and paper, both of which are renewable but cause hazardous affects to the environment when incinerated. Sharpe & Glurco (2018) emphasises on how smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices are often discarded into landfills, not only do they contain extremely hazardous materials, they also contain "valuable, finite materials such as gold, copper, and platinum". Extracting gold from ten kilograms of this 'waste' can add up to the same amount of gold that is extracted from 10,000 tonnes of mined ore, saving an immense amount of energy and capital. This concept of extracting 'gold' from what people consider waste is the prime concept of a Circular Economy.

Ddiba (2018) has defined the Circular Economy (CE) as a system that encourages use of sustainable resources in a way that they are utilized up to their full potential for as long as possible without hurting the environment. Karachi is a coastal city and the heart of resource-based industry, but it still follows the concept of linear economy, where resources are used to produce goods that usually have a short life span and are discarded upon expiration. In order to achieve sustainable development, we must adopt a circular economic system in cities such as Karachi. According to Li, Bao, Sun & Ji (2019)'s research that is based on sustainable development in coastal resource-based cities, a circular economy can be achieved by reducing the energy consumption "per unit of industrial added value", increasing the use of recyclable industrial waste instead of using completely new raw material, and adding a "circulation economy indicator to evaluate enterprise development".

Steps Taken by Other Countries

Pakistan is a low-income country; therefore, it should consider recovering and utilising biogas from decaying organic solid matter as a means of generation of energy. It would especially benefit Karachi in the long-run since it consumes the most energy in the country and because the energy produced through this method is a transitional, carbon-neutral energy. In Brazil, the government in Belo Horizonte has been able to formally partner the municipal administration with street scavengers, thus improving their lives and work conditions, and improving waste management systems that make sure waste reaches the landfill sites. Through this initiative, in 2007 they were able to attract the attention of Asja Ambiente Italia SpA (ASJA) Company which invested in a site that recovers and treats biogas for energy production. In three years, the site was operating a 4.5W capacity energy plant that now generates enough electricity to provide for 30,000-35,000 people in the district. (Brown, 2018)

In China, incineration has been embraced as the ultimate solution for waste problems, it is said to reduce more than 90 percent of waste volume. However, it is hazardous for the environment and must be approached as one of the solutions and not the singular solution. Incineration is also a source of power generation, in China the amount of power generation through incineration, post implementation of the 12th Five Year Plan, has increased from an average of 24 percent to 56 percent. Incineration also allows for an alternative to coal produced electricity that leads to considerably more carbon emissions, destroys the natural landscape, is very costly to extract, and harms health of the works working on such sites. Furthermore, in order to maintain the closed-economic loop of circular economy, pre-sorting is required so recyclable wastes can be saved and utilised elsewhere. China's government has taken all of this into account and is slowly moving towards a successful circular economic system, the same steps can be taken in Karachi. (Landsberger, 2019). Additionally, in Pakistan, the plastic industry has a rapid annual growth of 15 percent, with over 46 tonnes of plastic waste being imported annually.Up till 2017 China was the largest importer of plastic waste in the world, but after the enforcement of plastic laws there was a 96 percent decline in use and disposal of plastic waste, which contribute to China's development towards a CE. (Ihsanullah, 2020).