Household solid waste management practices and resource recovery potential in Pakistan

Improper management of solid waste is degrading landscape, filling Indus River ends up ocean and harming the poorest people in Pakistan. Additionally, the urban environment of the country has become unsustainable for living because of mismanagement of waste which leads to loss of resource recovery potential, hidden in the garbage. The aim of this study is to investigate the household solid waste management practices and resource recovery potential in Pakistan. The samples were prepared by quartering method and analyzed for determination of various characteristics by using standard methods. The results revealed that household waste averagely generated from 0.11 kg/c/day to 0.21 kg/c/day, which is contributed by 48% and 52% as putrescible and non-putrescible waste components, respectively. From the management point of view, it has been found that 80%, 92% and 54% of houses used uncovered dustbins, did not segregate waste at sources of generation and did not satisfy with existing collection services, respectively, while 69% of total houses surveyed with breakage of 42%, 41% and 17% disposed of waste into vacant plot, in streets and in municipality dustbins, respectively. The resource recovery potential in terms of putrescible wastes, recyclable wastes and combustible wastes, was obtained in the range of 42–59%, 22–31% and 12–18%, with average of 49%, 27% and 15%, respectively. It has been estimated that 9408, 32,486 and 1920 million rupees per year could be generated from 49%, 27% and 15% of putrescible, recyclable and combustible waste, respectively, if properly collected and segregated at the source of generation.