University of the Punjab

Quid-i-Azam Campus, Lahore

Assignment on
ISSUES OF RECYCLING &
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN PAKISTAN

Submitted to: Maam Farzeen

Submitted by: Zeeshan Anwar (08-E)
Meraj Ahsan Qureshi (09-E)
Muhammad Noman Younis (21-E)
Umair Rafi (29-E)
Osama Bin Fayyaz (34-E)
B.S. Environmental Sciences
5th Semester (2008-2012) - Evening
Subject: Environmental Ethics
Date of Submission: 1st February, 2011

College of Earth and Environmental Sciences

 Table of Contents

Waste ....................................................................................................................... 1
Recycling ................................................................................................................. 2
Advantages and Disadvantages of Recycling ...................................................... 5
Advantages ........................................................................................................ 5
Disadvantages ................................................................................................... 9
Issues of Recycling in Pakistan............................................................................. 9
Requirements for better Recycling Programs .................................................... 13
Recycling Plants in Pakistan ............................................................................... 14
Plastic Waste ................................................................................................... 14
Municipal Waste .............................................................................................. 16
Glass Recycling ............................................................................................... 16
Paper Waste .................................................................................................... 17
Rubber Waste .................................................................................................. 17
Industrial Wastes ............................................................................................. 18
Condemned Batteries ...................................................................................... 18
Chrome Waste ................................................................................................. 18
Animal Dunk .................................................................................................... 18
X-ray Films ...................................................................................................... 18
Slaughtering Waste ......................................................................................... 19
Miscellaneous Waste Recycling ...................................................................... 19
Construction and Demolition Waste................................................................. 19
Ferrous Metals ................................................................................................. 20
Non-Ferrous Metals ......................................................................................... 20
Packing Material Waste ................................................................................... 21
Gaseous Emissions of Sugar Mills & Industrial Boilers.................................... 21
Hospital Waste ................................................................................................ 21
E-Waste / Computer Waste ............................................................................. 21
Waste to Energy .............................................................................................. 21
References ............................................................................................................ 22
Waste
We are all familiar with the old concept of waste i.e. A rejected or unwanted
material. Huge volume of waste is being produced daily in our homes, factories,
laboratories, schools, offices etc. If we go back when Environmental Pollution had
not gained much importance, we simply throw waste into open dumping sites or
make them throw into sea or rivers without any proper management but from past
few decades, Environmental Pollution has been a major problem for whole world.

The major cause of Environmental Pollution is the large quantities of unmanaged

waste. This problem has made us to think that throwing is not the way to deal
waste instead it requires some management. Now it is no longer considered as
unwanted material to be dumped out the site. It is simply Material at wrong
place which can be segregated, transformed, recycled and reused with great
financial and environmental benefits. It means that waste for one can be
consumable product for other. This revolution has brought a tremendous change
in the world. Many recycling factories are now working to recycle waste and make
usable things with it, the effluent which was just allowed to flow into drains from
factory is again treated and usable material is recovered from it. Waste of one
factory is a raw material for other one, in this way burden on our natural

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 1

resources has considerably reduced. Today, world is making its way to achieve a
Zero waste Goal. Present waste hierarchy which is being followed to treat /
manage waste is 3Rs:

Reduce - to buy less and use less. Incorporates common sense ideas like
turning off the lights, rain barrels, taking shorter showers, low-flow toilets,
and programmable thermostats.

Reuse - elements of the discarded

item are used again. Initiatives
include Hand-Me-Downs, Garage
Sales, Quilting, Travel Mugs, and
Composting (nutrients). Includes the
terms Laundry, Repair, Regift, and
Upcycle.

Recycle - discards are separated into

materials that may be incorporated
into new products. This is different from Reuse in that energy is used to
change the physical properties of the material. In theory recycling involves
the separation and collection of materials for processing and re-
manufacturing old products into new products, and the use of these new
products, completing the cycle.

Recycling
During the 1960s and '70s it was thought that emissions from factory chimneys
and sewage pipes constituted the biggest environmental problem. But since then,
due to new, worldwide "Eco-laws", these discharges have decreased
considerably. Instead, the focus has switched to the environmental problems
associated with the goods that are produced and consumed in modern society.
Many of the most environmentally damaging substances are currently being
supplied through glass bottles, newspapers, plastic bags, coke cans, cardboard
boxes and sweet wrappers just to mention a few.

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Since it is now these products, and no longer industrial emissions, that accounts
for most of the environmentally harmful substances being discharged in nature.
As the "release sites" or the polluters, have become so numerous, a totally new
system for controlling and handling environmentally harmful wastes is needed.
One way could be to transfer the responsibility for this to the producer of goods,
according to the established principle "the polluter pays." Producers who put a
product on the market should, quite simply, be responsible for taking back as
much as is sold. But should all the responsibility lie on the producers? Every
consumer who buys these products should make an asserted effort to help keep
our planet clean.

The recycling of glass, aluminum and steel cans, cardboard, car tyres,
newspapers and certain plastics is a growing industry in most of the world today.
Nearly all 1st world countries and many developing countries have developing or
already highly developed recycling programmes. A step in the right direction
could be to build recycling plants all over the country. Every town should set up a
sufficient number of collection stations and every household should share the
responsibility and sort their rubbish to ensure that batteries and electrical
appliances are not thrown in landfills, that glass, aluminium cans and plastic bags
don't clutter the country-side. Working together with the producers, consumers
should send items back to factories, to be recycled and thereby reused.

Glass is one of the most common man-made materials. It is made from sand,
limestone and sodium carbonate and silica. The ingredients are heated to a high
temperature in a furnace until they melt together. The molten glass from the
furnace cools to form sheets, or may be moulded to make objects. Actually glass
is completely recyclable and making products from recycled glass rather than
starting from scratch saves energy resources.

The process of recycling, for paper, entails the conversion of waste paper to
various types of finer grades of paper. First, careful sorting is required so that
items such as plastic wrapping, paper clips and staples can be removed. Waste
paper is divided into categories such as newsprint; typing and computer paper;
and magazines, which have shiny paper and coloured inks and need special

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 3

treatment. Next, the ink must be removed. Finally, the wet, shredded waste paper
is blended with other materials according to the type of end product that is
desired. This sludge passes through a machine called a beater, which is
essentially a very heavy roller that presses the fibres in the sludge together and
squeezes out the water. A refining machine brushes the roll of sludge to smooth
out irregularities. Finally, the paper is polished or chemically treated to give it the
proper finish and lastly packaged and sent to customers.

The papermaking process itself is pretty much the same whether one uses virgin
materials, recycled materials, or a mixture of the two. The difference is in the
preparation of the sludge. Recycled material requires careful sorting. This in turn
means that the paper mills must have a place to store waste paper and the staff
to sort it, as well as a means of disposing of waste paper that cannot be used.
Removing ink from waste paper also requires special chemicals, equipment, and
equipment operators. As a result, some paper mills are not set up to use any
recycled materials. That's why the forests are getting smaller and smaller.

Also, not all paper products can be made with recycled paper. Brown grocery
bags, for example, can be recycled into other types of paper, but they must be
made, at least partially, out of virgin materials because only virgin materials have
the long unbroken fibres that give the bags their necessary strength. Unlike glass
bottles and aluminum cans, which can be recycled an infinite number of times,
paper cannot be recycled indefinitely. Each time it is recycled, its quality
degrades slightly because the fibres become more and more broken. At some
point recycled paper has to be mixed in with virgin material, and eventually after
repeated uses, it ends up in a landfill or and incinerator.

Obviously as recycling plants and collection sites have to be set up all over the
country and for all the various types of materials we use in every day life, it is
going to be a very expensive process to start, but it is vital that the wheels are set
in motion before it is too late! In turn this will lead to many new jobs opening up
for unskilled as well as skilled people to keep our country cleaner as well as
decreasing unemployment and thereby promoting the economy.

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To fully understand why recycling is important and to have a general feeling of
responsibility and to want to keep the environment clean stems from having an
education and understanding the concept of pollution. It is not easy for the many
people in our country without a proper education, to feel the need to recycle, as
they may not understand they urgency of it. But if all of us in this room already
knew and understood what recycling is and how much damage is done to the
ecosystem by not recycling, why do we not feel the need to take action and start
taking care of our beautiful country!

Advantages and Disadvantages of Recycling

Every phenomenon in this world has roots in both positive and negative sides.
Likewise recycling has both advantages and disadvantages, some of which are
discussed below:

Advantages
Recycling is an important environmental
issue and one should practice the three Rs
of waste management: reduce, reuse, and
recycle. When you walk down the street and
find heaps of garbage stinking or tons of
plastics and indisposed wastes filling the
landfills you wonder how you can help it.
Well it is time to clean up! A lot of people know that recycling is good for the
environment but they do not understand the significance of it. In todays world of
globalization, there is awareness of the concept of recycling through
advertisements, television, and education but people still dont take it seriously
enough. Very few people are aware of the knowledge that recycling helps to
conserve energy, trees, water, natural resources, and reduces air and water
pollution. Recycling done on individual level can actually help planet earth to a
large extent. Despite the warnings, being given about the harmful effects of
global warming and environmental issues very little is being done to tackle it.
Global warming, acid rains, endangerments of different species, deforestation
have become unmanageable in the present scenario. If something is not done
now the future of planet earth seems very bleak. People and the government

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needs to understand this at the micro and macro level and highlight the benefits
of recycling. Read on and find out how every small step, can make a huge
difference.

Environment
Recycling helps to reduce the greenhouse effect. Products that are not
biodegradable release poisonous gases due to manufacturing, use, and improper
disposal of the material. Higher concentration of gas emissions leads to changes
in climate, temperature, and changes in levels of sea. Recycling can help reduce
the production of new manufacturing products and hence save energy.

Water
The amount of waste that gets deposited in landfills contains toxic chemicals that
pollute water systems. These are harmful for consumption as dangerous
chemicals contaminate water supplies in cities. Recycling reduces considerable
amount of waste that gets deposited in our landfills.

Conservation Of Resources
There is a danger of natural resources being exhausted sooner than later.
Resources like oil and precious metals (gold, silver, bauxite, copper, etc.) are all
limited resources that will be exhausted in years to come. By recycling steel,
millions of tons of iron ore, coal and limestone can be saved. We can save
thousands of trees by recycling old newspapers and official papers.

Use Eco-Friendly Products

Give a thought to the environment when you use plastic products and polystyrene
products. Plastic are hazardous to the environment and difficult to dispose.
Plastics take around 700 years to decompose and the wastes are toxic to the
environment. Use products that are biodegradable, eco-friendly and can be easily
recycled.

Energy Efficiency
The consumption of energy to manufacture a new product from a raw material
exceeds far more that the energy required to produce materials from the recycled

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 6

products. Hence recycling if done in large scale could also lead to reduction in
energy costs and is more efficient in terms of energy consumption.

Strong Economy
When you preserve your natural resources, you conserve energy and reduce
costs and expenditure of the products. This helps to create jobs and in turn builds
a strong economy. The resilience of this industry is such that the prices of the
products remained stable in spite of a huge financial crisis, and in the times of
recovery, it helped in generating new employment. When the finances are strong,
it helps to develop society and a strong community.

Limits Waste
This seems like one of the most obvious
advantages of recycling. The more that is
recycled, the less material that will be left to sit in
a landfill for hundreds of years. It doesnt make a
lot of sense to toss something when it has the
potential to be repurposed.

If an item can either become pollution on the side

of the road or in a landfill, or could be made
useful again, it seems that the correct choice should be obvious.

Teaches Responsibility
Taking the time to recycle will help to teach people to be more responsible when
it comes to caring for the world that we live in. Instead of just consuming and
consuming and consuming, recycling teaches people that there are
consequences to our actions.

This is especially important with children. They need to learn that every choice
we make in regard to how we treat the earth and the resources she has given us,
will have a direct impact on the quality of the earth.

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We either choose to care and nurture this planet or we trash it just so we can get
what we want without having to consider any consequences.

Creates Jobs
Recycling can create jobs. The plants that sort and ship the items to factories that
will repurpose them must be staffed with qualified people. Anything that can
create job in the current economy must certainly be considered an advantage.

Eliminate non-biodegradable Waste

Non-biodegradable waste like plastic bags, PVC, polystyrene etc is being
recycled and new products are made from them.

Savings
Even for people who do not really care about natural resources have a reason to
learn about the advantages of recycling. It can help you save money.

Remember that one form of recycling is choosing to buy used items instead of
new. Some people go so far as to make a whole lifestyle of only purchasing used
items such as clothing, furniture, cars and other household items.

It is not difficult to see how this could result in a significant amount of savings.
Even if you arent ready to make a used only commitment, it is worth at least
trying to find used when you need something. Need a new living room set?
Check classified sites, such as Craigs List, before hitting the retail stores.

If you have never sought used items in such a way before, youll probably be
surprised at the high quality merchandise that is available at a fraction of the cost
you would pay in a retail store.

The advantages of recycling are both far reaching and personal. If you dont yet
care much about the environment, its time to learn why you should. In the mean
time, remember that there are other reasons to recycle that are about saving you
money.

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 8

Disadvantages
Some disadvantages of recycling are given below:

Separate factories must be set up for the recycling of materials, and this will
just cause more pollution and energy consumption for transport, sorting,
cleaning and storage;
Pollutants produced by the recycling process itself, including chemical stews
when breaking down different products;
Some recycling is not cost-efficient and annually results in a net loss. It
costs $50-60 to landfill a ton versus $150+/- to recycle a ton.
Only the recycling of aluminum really makes any money. Reclaiming metals
is feasible and fairly easy, whereas plastics and paper are expensive,
wasteful and overly difficult;
Creation of low-quality jobs. Jobs include sifting through garbage to
separate it, dealing with the toxins from the breakdown process, and other
manual-intensive labor tasks;
A considerable percentage of items marked as recyclable end up trashed or
burned anyway due to poor quality, contaminants, lack of resources able to
handle that item in a specific region or recycling installation, etc.;
Takes time and effort to do
This process is Unattractive

Issues of Recycling in Pakistan

Pakistan's attempt to raise the living standards of its citizens has meant that
economic development has largely taken precedence over environmental issues.
Unchecked use of hazardous chemicals, vehicle emissions, and industrial activity
has contributed to a number of environmental and health hazards, chief among
them being water pollution. Much of the country suffers from a lack of potable
water due to industrial waste and agricultural runoff that contaminates drinking
water supplies. Poverty and high population growth have aggravated, and to a
certain extent, caused, these environmental problems.

Poor natural resource management over many years and continuing high
population growth have had a negative impact on Pakistan's environment.

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 9

Agricultural runoff--caused by ongoing deforestation--and industrial runoff have
polluted water supplies, and factory and vehicle emissions have degraded air
quality in the urban centers. Similar to other developing countries, Pakistan has
focused on achieving self-sufficiency in food production, meeting energy
demands, and containing its high rate of population growth rather than on
curtailing pollution or other environmental hazards. As a result, "green" concerns
have not been the government's top priority.

Yet, as Pakistan's cities suffer from the effects of air pollution and unplanned
development has caused degradation, environmental issues have become more
salient. Safeguarding public health, as well as preserving Pakistan's natural
wonders, has made environmental protection increasingly important. In 1992 the
government issued its National Conservation Strategy Report (NCSR) that
stipulated three goals for the country's environmental protection efforts:
conservation of natural resources; promotion of sustainable development; and
improvement of efficiency in the use and management of resources. Fourteen
program areas were targeted for priority implementation, including energy
efficiency improvements, renewable resource development/deployment, pollution
prevention/reduction, urban waste management, institutional support of common
resources, and integration of population and environmental programs.

Presently it is estimated
that, 54,888 tons per day of
solid waste is generated in
Pakistan. The Ministry of
Environment undertook a
study during 1996 on Data
Collection for Preparation of
National Study on
Privatization of Solid Waste
Management in Eight
Selected Cities of Pakistan. The study revealed that the rate of waste generation
on average from all type of municipal controlled areas varies from 0.283

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 10

kg/capita/day to 0.613 kg/capita/day or from 1.896 kg/house/day to 4.29
kg/house/day in all the selected cities.

Solid waste in Pakistan is generally composed of plastic and rubber, metal, paper
and cardboard, textile waste, glass, food waste, animal waste, leaves, grass,
straws and fodder, bones, wood, stones and fines to various extents. The typical
composition of Solid Waste in Pakistani Cities is given below:

Typical Composition of Solid Waste in Pakistani Cities (%)

Composition %
Food Waste 8.4% to 21 %
Leaves, grass, straw,
10.2 % to 15.6 %
Fodder
Fines 29.7 % to 47.5 %
Recyclables 13.6 % to 23.55 %

Lahore Compost at Mehmood Booti collects wastes from Shalimar, Aziz Bhatti,
Gulberg, Ravi, Wagha, Data, WASA and many other towns, segregate it, make
compost of biodegradable waste and send non-degradable waste to other
respective recycling units. The waste generated in Punjab is more than the
capacity of this unit so Government should promote such recycling units so that
our biggest problem i.e. solid waste can be eliminated to possible extent.

Weekly sampling report for Lahore Compost ( Incoming Truck)

4 samplings in month of September
ORGANIC by Weight in Kgs INORGANIC By weight in Kgs
park waste
Tetra pack

polythene
Garden &

Rubber &
Plastic &

Bricks &
Wood &

Glass &
Textiles

leather
stones
Paper

waste

metal
straw

Misc.
Food
Date

4/9/2008 3 73 5 118 17 3 177 9 2 0 37

Daily a large amount of waste is being generated in Pakistan from which most of
it can be recycled and reused, but due to lack of management, technology and
funds we don't have a very high level of recycling. There aren't enough people

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 11

who take an active interest in the environment and try to do their bit in preserving
nature, by for example, taking used bottles, aluminum cans or even leaves and
other garden refuse to recycling sites. This is probably due to a lot of reasons.
The first and foremost being that we don't have many recycling.

Pakistan is far behind in the field of Recycling, if compared with developed

countries like Sweden. In the forefront of recycling, particularly for household
waste, is Sweden. Swedes have to carefully recycle and separate their own
rubbish for the refuse collectors on a daily basis. Even in the middle of their very
cold winters, in raging snowstorms, the Swedish people go to the recycling
stations with their household trash to perform the daily ritual of separating
cardboard from plastics and glass from biological waste.

Presently domestic waste in Pakistan has not been carried out in a sufficient and
proper manner in collection, transportation and disposal regardless of the size of
the city. Solid waste management by municipalities as a whole is quite inefficient
as it collects only 51- 69% of the total waste generated. No weighing facilities are
installed at disposal sites.

The scavengers play an

important role as they separate
recyclable at various steps of
existing solid waste
management. Hazardous
hospital and industrial wastes
are being simply treated as
ordinary waste. Open burning
of waste especially non-degradable components like plastic bags are adding to
air pollution. Municipalities have been reported to spend considerable portion of
their budgets on solid waste management but as a return receive nothing (no tax)
from the population being served.

The major problem in Pakistan regarding recycling is that the industrialists prefer
new raw material than raw material of recycling, because in later they have to

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 12

segregate, collect and ship material to recycling plants which is expensive as
compared to import new raw material. Secondly very few people are aware of
recycling and its relation to environment. Waste should be segregated at source
of generation but it does not happen here. Government also is not taking his part
in promoting recycling plants, it is responsibility of government to encourage
recycling industries and for this they should arrange awareness programs and
Health & Safety Environment Trainings (HSE) for workers of Recycling plants.

Requirements for better Recycling Programs

The requirements for promotion of recycling programs and minimization of
environmental issues are as follows:

Introduce Basic Recycling rules, Waste Management rules and E-Waste

Management rules
Conduct awareness programs for people so that they can also play their
role in recycling by segregating their domestic waste and taking their
recyclable waste to recycling units and make compost of their organic
decomposable waste which can be used in lawns as a fertilizer.
Every town should have its own recycling plants, to eliminate the
transportation problem of waste and so that waste can be handled at
reasonable level.
Recycling industries should be promoted and training programs should be
arranged at government level for people associated with recycling
programs
Copy the technologies &
techniques being used in advanced
countries.
Sorting of waste should be at origin
point.
Health Safety & Environment
training should be arranged for
workers of recycling industries.

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 13

Recycling Plants in Pakistan
Recycling Practices are rapidly growing in Pakistan. Many industries in Pakistan
are exporting its products derived from waste to many countries. There are many
types of recycling practices in progress, some are discussed below:-

Plastic Waste
Plastics account for almost 10 percent by weight of the content of municipal
garbage. Plastic containers and other household products are increasingly
recycled, and, like paper, these must be sorted at the source before processing.
Various thermoplastics may be remelted and reformed into new products.

Thermoplastics must be sorted by type before they can be

remelted. Thermosetting plastics such as polyurethane and epoxy resins, by
contrast, cannot be remelted; these are usually ground or shredded for use as
fillers or insulating materials.

Polythene Waste: Polythene

waste is being recycled for
manufacturing pipes, cycle
pedals, foamy pads, softy
chappal sols etc. M/S Green
Earth, Bedian Road, Lahore are
recycling it into furniture strips
at large scale. At Shahdra
(Saeed Park, Baradari Road)
the Polythene Waste is
recycled into different plastic Picture showing so much percentage of polythene
bags at waste dumping site
products. The Punjab
Government has prohibited manufacturing of less than 15 micron thickness
shopper bags under The Prohibition of Manufacturing of Black & Less than 15
Microns Polythene Bags -2002, as recycling & collection of thin polythene bags
is not attractive.

PVC Waste: The condemned / wasted products containing PVC materials are
being collected through sorting process and are recycled. There are hundreds
PVC recycling works at Bilal Ganj, Bund Road and Bara Dari Road, Shahdra.

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 14

The used shoes in large
quantities are brought from
different cities. This material
is steam heated in large steel
pans to separate the uppers
& sols. The sols as PVC
material is crushed for
recycling purpose while the
uppers being Rexene /
leather / canvas is used as
fuel in brick kilns.

Polystyrene: It is of two types

1) Expandable polystyrene (thermo-pore): it is used as heat insulator, vibrator

absorbers, fall ceiling and for packing. It is usually not recyclable.
2) Non-expandable polystyrene: it is used for utensil making, caps of PET
bottles, toys, machinery parts etc. It resembles to PVC plastic but has fine
texture and flexibility.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET): It is a food grade recyclable plastic mainly

used for drinks bottles i.e. PET Bottles etc.

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 15

Municipal Waste
Domestic refuse (municipal solid waste) includes garbage and rubbish. Garbage
contains highly decomposable food waste (e.g., kitchen scraps), while rubbish is
the dry, nonputrescible component of refuse. Once glass, plastics, paper
products, and metals have been removed from domestic refuse, what remains is
essentially organic waste. This waste can be biologically decomposed and turned
into humus, which is a useful soil conditioner, and kitchen scraps, when
decomposed with leaves and grass in a compost mound, make an especially
useful soil amendment. These practices help reduce the amount of material
contributed by households to landfills.

Municipal Waste is being sorted / segregated into various recyclable materials i.e.
glass, ferrous / steel, paper / board, PET (Polyethylene Tetra Phthalate),
Polystyrene, PVC, Polythene, non-ferrous metal, rubber / Rexene and Organic
Waste. This practice is being carried out at large scale by M/S Waste Busters,
20-Km Ferozepur Road, Lahore and by M/S Lahore Compost, Mehmood Booti,
Bund Road, Lahore. The organic contents are used for composting (organic
manure).

Glass Recycling
Glass makes up about 6 percent by weight of the material in municipal waste
streams. Glass is an easily salvageable material but one that is difficult to recover
economically. Though enormous numbers of glass containers are used
throughout the world, much of this glass is still not recycled, because the raw
materials are so inexpensive that there is scant economic motive to reuse them.
Even those glass containers that are returned by consumers in their original form
sooner or later become damaged or broken.

One problem in recycling glass is separating it from other refuse. Another

problem is that waste glass must be separated by colour (i.e., clear, green, and
brown) before it can be reused to make new glass containers. Despite these
difficulties, anywhere from 35 to 90 percent of cullet (broken or refuse glass) is
currently used in new-glass production, depending on the country.

Recycled glass is made into new beverage bottles, food jars, insulation and other
construction materials. Usually, clear glass containers are recycled into new clear

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 16

glass products, while coloured glass containers are recycled into new coloured
glass products.

Paper Waste
One of the most readily available materials for recycling is paper, which alone
accounts for more than one-third by weight of all the material deposited in
landfills in the United States. The stream of wastepaper consists principally of
newspaper; office, copying, and writing paper; computer paper; coloured
paper; paper tissues and towels; boxboard (used for cereal and other small
boxes); corrugated cardboard; and kraft paper (used for paper bags). These
papers must usually be sorted before recycling. Newsprint and cardboard can be
repulped to make the same materials, while other types of scrap paper are
recycled for use in low-quality papers such as boxboard, tissues, and towels.
Paper intended for printing-grade products must be de-inked (often using caustic
soda) after pulping; for some uses the stock is bleached before pressing into
sheets. Smaller amounts of recycled paper are made into cellulose insulation and
other building products.

Bark, wood chips, and lignin from sawmills, pulp mills, and paper mills are
returned to the soil as fertilizers and soil conditioners. The kraft process of
papermaking produces a variety of liquid wastes that are sources of such
valuable chemicals as turpentine, methyl alcohol,dimethyl sulfide, ethyl alcohol,
and acetone. Sludges from pulp and paper manufacture and phosphate slime
from fertilizer manufacture can be made into wallboard.

The Paper Recycling practice is being carried out at Century Paper Mill, 62-Km
Multan Road, Jumber, Kasur, Bullay Shah Paper Mill Kasur, Packages Limited
Kasur, Flying Paper Mill Shekhupura Road and several other Paper Mills.

Rubber Waste
Though much used rubber was formerly burned, this practice has been greatly
curtailed in most countries in order to prevent air pollution. Internal recycling is
common in most rubber plants; the reprocessed product can be used wherever
premium-grade rubber is not needed. External recycling has proved a problem
over the years, as the cost of recycling old or worn-out tires has far exceeded the
value of the reclaimed material. Shredded rubber can be used as an additive in

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 17

asphalt pavements, and discarded tires may be used as components of swings
and other assorted recreational climbing equipment in tire playgrounds for
children.

Industrial Wastes
Many Industrial wastes like Paints, Tins, Empty Packaging Materials, Empty
Chemical Drums, damaged products, washings etc are being collected by
Industrial Waste Dealers for recycling purpose. The EPA has issued licensed to
these dealers Under Section 14 of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act. Some
waste dealers are M/S Ali Traders PECO Road Kot Lakhpat, Lahore. Many
industrial wastes are now being used for making by-products or intermediate
products which were wasted in the past.

Condemned Batteries
Condemned batteries are collected and broken / separated into PVC, lead and
asbestos for recycling purpose. There are large such industrial works at Bund
Road near Shadbagh, Lahore and at Gujranwala. The Lead is used for making
electrodes or for making paint pigments.

Chrome Waste
In Tanneries chromium sulphate (extreme toxic) is used for tanning purpose. In
the past it was drained along with the other wastes after use but now it is
separated and being reused after proper makeup. It is pertinent to mention that
chromium compounds are carcinogenic hence its waste into surface water bodies
may cause severe adverse effects to aquatic life and human beings along with
contamination of surface and subsoil water.

Animal Dunk
It is being used for making methane (biogas) through anaerobic process or
making dunk cakes for fuel or for compost purpose.

X-ray Films
X-ray films are coated with silver Nitrate solution. The silver is extracted from the
used films by using acids and sold. The X-ray films after removal of silver are
used for different purpose.

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 18

Slaughtering Waste
The slaughtering waste is being used into different ways. These are as follows:
1) Blood is boiled in large steel pans and is sundried for using as and
ingredient of Poultry Feed.
2) Bones are either used for extracting gelatin or burnt for extracting calcium
for medicine factories. The leg bones of camel are used as decoration
items / furniture.
3) Hoofs are used for making several
things like buttons or are exported as
decoration items.
4) Intestines are washed, preserved
with salt and are exported for making
sausages / rodhay / hotdogs.
5) Abomasums of the animal stomach is not eaten by Muslims and is being
exported to china.
6) Fatty waste is used for extracting fats for soap industries.
7) The waste from banquet / marriage functions is recycled into poultry feed.
8) Paws of chicken / hen are being used by poor community or by Chinese
restaurants for making soups.
9) Penises of animals are not consumed by Muslim Community and are
exported to the other countries.
10) Tails of animals are preserved and exported for decoration pieces.
11) Skin Trimmings comprising skin pieces, ears, tails are used for glue
(varnish) and gelatin.

Miscellaneous Waste Recycling

There are several vendors / scavengers for collecting house hold waste (wasted
bread / chanbura, broken toys, metal waste, plastic wastes, glass waste, old
clothes etc). The old clothes are used by auto-mechanics for cleaning purpose or
by poor for wearing / dressing purpose. The other items are segregated and
recycled.

Construction and Demolition Waste

Construction and demolition (C&D) debris (e.g., wood, brick, portland
cement concrete, asphalt concrete and metals) can be reclaimed and reused to

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 19

help reduce the volume taken up by such materials in landfills. Concrete debris
consists mostly of sand and gravel that can be crushed and reused for road
subbase gravel. Clean wood from C&D debris can be chipped and used as
mulch, animal bedding, and fuel. Asphalt can be reused in cold-mix paving
products and roofing shingles. Recovered wallboard can be used as cat litter. As
landfill space becomes more expensive, more of these materials are being
recycled.

Ferrous Metals
Ferrous products (i.e., iron and steel) can be recycled by many methods. Metal
cuttings or imperfect products are recycled by remelting, recasting, and redrawing
entirely within the steel mill. The process is much cheaper than producing new
metal from the basic ore. By-products from recycling process include
many organic compounds hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. The organic
compounds are purified and sold. The ammonia is sold as an aqueous solution or
combined with sulfuric acid to form ammonium sulfate, which is subsequently
dried and sold as fertilizer.

Non-Ferrous Metals
At present, manual sorting seems to be the only practical method of separating
pieces of nonferrous scrap materials such as aluminum, copper, and lead.

Aluminum: The items containing

aluminum are thrown into a reverberatory
furnace (in which heat is radiated from
the roof into the material treated) and
melted while the impurities are burned
off. The resulting material is cast into
ingots and resold for drawing or forming
operations. Machines, rejected castings
and beverage cans are major sources of recycled aluminum. Aluminum can be
recycled infinite times.

Copper Waste: Copper waste is produced from damaged electric motor coils
PVC insulated conducting wires, electric panels and many other electric

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 20

appliances. It is being recycled at large quantities especially in Gujranwala &
Lahore by melting and remolding it.

Lead: The primary source of used lead is discarded electric storage batteries.
Battery plates may be smelted to produce antimonial lead (a lead-antimony alloy)
for manufacture of new batteries or to produce pure lead and antimonyas
separate products.

Packing Material Waste

The Packing materials are bought by vendors for further sale to the users.

Gaseous Emissions of Sugar Mills & Industrial Boilers

The emissions especially Sui-Gas fired boilers are collected from stacks /
chimmenies for recycling of CO2 from emissions for using carbonated drinks and
fire extinguishers.

Hospital Waste
Hospital waste comprising plastic
material (syringes, drips sets, kidney
trays, packing materials, dialysis
apparatus etc) are recycled for
producing plastic products but recycling
of infectious waste is not allowed under
Section 14 of the Pakistan
Environment Protection Act -1997
read with Hospital Waste Management Rules 2005.

E-Waste / Computer Waste

The discarded / old electronic technology which is being discarded by advanced
countries is imported and reused by developing countries like old computers,
printers, photo developing machines etc.

Waste to Energy
Such wastes which are not reusable or recyclable are being used for energy
production e.g. upper parts of shoes, glycol waste of polyester mills, infectious
waste of hospitals, tyre. Rice husk is used as fuel for boilers.

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 21

References

1. Muhammad Younis Zahid

Deputy District Officer (Environment),
Environment Protection Department (EPD), Lahore

2. http://www.environment.gov.pk/PRO_PDF/PositionPaper/Brief-SWM-
%20Pak.pdf
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_Pakistan
4. http://www.scribd.com/doc/26143389/Environmental-Issues-in-Pakistan
5. http://www.greenearthrecycling.com/
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_management
8. http://www.knowledgegalaxy.net/advantages_of_recycling/advantages_of_r
ecycling.html
9. http://www.essoog.com/members/rajaa/favorite.htm
10. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_advantages_and_disadvantages_
of_recycling
11. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/493996/recycling/4679/Ferrous-
metals

Issues of Recycling and Environmental Protection Programs in Pakistan Page 22