Matiullah Mati
Iqbal, 35, has been working as a road cleaner, on a temporary basis, in the Metropolitan Corporation Quetta for the last 8 years. He removes garbage from different areas of Quetta and loads them on dumpers which take the collected garbage to the dump yard. To pay household expenses, he also cleans gutters in different areas of the city.
Iqbal goes inside the gutters and drains the dirty water into the vessels and tests them like a housewife extracts pebbles from pulses or rice.
He claims that his ancestors used to do the same thing and did not die during the last thirty years of cleansing the drains.
Sharik another sweeper also cleans the Jinnah road dust as well as around the streets of Jinnah road but without protective
clothing. He suffered from abdominal diseases spread by solid waste and germs.
According to The Metropolitan Corporation
The provincial capital Quetta produces 16 hundred tons of trash per day but only six hundred tons reach the dump yard. Quetta city’s population is 2.2 million as per the 2017 census but a population and urban planning expert Saeed ur Rehman Kundi says more than 2 million people from across the province come to Quetta and are settled here and have their registration in their own district this can be more than 4 million population in actual.
According to the world bank
Around the world, waste generation rates are rising. In 2020, the world was estimated to generate 2.24 billion tonnes of solid waste, amounting to a footprint of 0.79 kilograms per person per day. With rapid population growth and urbanization, annual waste generation is expected to increase by 73% from 2020 levels to 3.88 billion tonnes in 2050.
According to World Bank In Pakistan
A $5.5 million dollar project supported a composting facility in Lahore in market development and the sale of emission reduction credits under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Activities resulted in reductions of 150,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents and expansion of daily compost production volume from 300 to 1000 tonnes per day.
Compared to those in developed nations, residents in developing countries, especially the urban slums or with lower economic backgrounds are more severely impacted by unsustainably managed waste.
In low-income countries, over 90% of waste is often disposed of in unregulated dumps or openly burned. These practices create serious health, safety, and environmental consequences. Poorly managed waste serves as a breeding ground for disease vectors, contributes to global climate change through methane generation, and can even promote urban violence.
Managing waste properly is essential for building sustainable and livable cities, but it remains a challenge for many developing countries and cities. Effective waste management is expensive, often comprising 20%–50% of municipal budgets. Operating this essential municipal service requires integrated systems that are efficient, sustainable, and socially supported.
Public health specialist Dr. Yasir Shah
Public health specialist Dr. Yasir Shah says that waste of oil, municipal wastes, and sanitary wastes in hospitals commonly spread various diseases.
Improper solid waste management often attracts insects and rodent vectors which facilitate the spread of diseases such as cholera and dengue fever.
The need is that if there is proper management of solid wastes, the loss of human life can be reduced.
According to World Health Organization, most of those infected will have no or mild symptoms and can be successfully treated with an oral rehydration solution.
A global strategy on cholera control, Ending Cholera: a global roadmap to 2030, with a target to reduce cholera deaths by 90% was launched in 2017.
Researchers have estimated that each year there are 1.3 to 4.0 million cases of cholera, and 21 000 to 143 000 deaths worldwide due to cholera (1).
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated.
The provision of safe water and sanitation is critical to prevent and control the transmission of cholera and other waterborne diseases.
Severe cases will need rapid treatment with intravenous fluids and antibiotics.
Oral cholera vaccines should be used in conjunction with improvements in water and sanitation to control cholera outbreaks and for prevention in areas known to be high risk for cholera.
Dr. Malik Akhtar
Dr. Malik Akhtar, Associate professor of Environmental Science at the University of BUITMS, says that the world is taking solid west as a resource.
It includes various components that can be recycled or used as energy. People in Denmark are looking for solid waste, if we do not use anything positive, it will have negative effects told Malik.
There is no engineering landfill site in Balochistan, where garbage is dumped, and various chemical processes begin on the surface of the earth these chemicals have negative effects on the environment, water, and human beings.
The waste can be used for different resources on the engineering landfill site and the waste can be compressed completely.
Solid Waste has a significant impact on environmental change. There is no dumping mechanism in Pakistan, but there are some cities in some cities. More than 40% of the solid waste is placed in the country.
The BUITMS will be the first university to work on the source of solid waste so that the waste can be recycled and establish a small industry told Malik.
Administrator Metropolitan Corporation Quetta Abdul Jabbar Baloch says that Quetta generates 16 to 17 hundred tonnes of crude daily, in which metropolitan 600 to 700 tonnes of crude is used.
The population of Quetta is more than the census, but the capacity is less, which verifies Kundi’s views on the urbanization unregistered population. There is no recruitment in the metropolitan since 2007 due to the weak financial situation.
The ban on the use of plastic was enacted in 2002, but it is not being implemented, some implementation is lacking, and some campaigns have been launched but could not produce enough results.
The Quetta Metropolitan Corporation is working with the environment department to provide biodegradable bags. Solid waste management is working under the local government act, but there is no need for new law told Baloch.
Deputy director of the environmental protection agency Abdul wali khilji
Deputy director of the environmental protection agency
Abdul wali khilji says that the environmental protection agency is working legally for the protection of the environment, which includes Air, Water, noise, etc. if the environment is damaged in any regard, the EPA will take legal action.
If there is garbage in the market, it not only spreads the odor, but the human beings here are suffering from diseases.
If there is proper management of municipal Waste, there will be no other problems including diseases.
Abdul Wali Khilji says that the Crude place at takhtani bypass is not a full site but a dump site, the landfill site is regularly engineered so that there is no damage to the environment and underground water.
There is a high risk of damage to the environment and the underground water. The underground site affects underground water aquifers, microorganisms, and insects told Khilji.
Plastic legislation was enacted in 2001 and the use of plastic was banned, but then the case went to court in the year 2021, and the EPA department made a safe polythene strategy. The use of plastic is provided to the public so that the environment is environmentally safe. The plastic act has been made, which includes plastic or 50 micro thickness so that the end of the plastic is proving to be hazardous for the environment.