In present era, waste recycling is emerging as a prospering business with most of developed nations employing this trend for earning money and keeping their cities cleaner. After Germany took lead in recycling, others followed suit with number of European countries and some of Asian at present busy in recycling.
They produce variety of recycled products from used iron, plastic, glass and other components of waste and sell them in markets. In some countries, waste water and organic waste is used for power generation and producing fertiliser.
But, for most of developing nations, recycling is still a remote reality. They mostly go for fresh manufacturing instead of recycling - thus the cost continue to rise and cities get more filthy.
In Pakistan also, this area remained neglected as a whole, though a few individual efforts bore fruit. TetraPak, GreenEarth and Lahore Compost are some the success stories for recycling the used cartons, polythene bags and the organic waste and sell the products to the market.
TetraPak's Country Environment Manager, Dr Farrukh Khan pointed out that number of daily use goods can be produced by recycling post consumer cartons. "By recycling used cartons we can produce more durable and environment friendly items like hangers, stationery, file covers, pen holders, egg trays etc," Dr Khan said. "It is a water based technology and steam bleaching mechanism, instead of chemical bleaching and chlorination."
This used material is also recycled into palates and sheets that can be provided to residents of hilly areas for rooftop to curtail construction cost and avoid massive tree cutting.
Recycled goods are economical for consumers and source of earning for the producers. A plywood sheet cost Rs 1200 to 1300 while a recycled sheet of same size costs just Rs 800 to 900 and is durable, flexible and resistant to weather and moisture. Moreover, the investor can cut the overhead expenditure up to 50% due to abundant raw material and cheaper labour.
"It is a viable business. Technology for recycling projects can be developed locally and is cost effective. Within just one and a half years we can put in place a viable system of recycling," Dr Khan said. "What we need to learn, is the technical know how and awareness raising." TetraPak had started with just less than 50 people but now it employs 4700 people and has expanded network to 16 cities.
According to experts, a recycling plant is economical than an organic solid waste treatment plant. For recycling, virgin fibre is essential and our waste contains 68% virgin fibre, if properly sorted out.
This technology is also not restricted to just a few products but with slight modification we can use it to produce variety of things and GreenEarth Project fully exploited this potential.
Established in private sector in 1994, GreenEarth project recycle used polythene bags to manufacture park and picnic area benches, tables, garbage boxes, planters, boardwalks and handicap walkways, bus stop shades, docks, decks for houses, landscape timber, wall bumpers, baffling systems for water pollution control plants and number of other items. These products as well as Plastic Corrugated and Plastic Flat Sheets produced at the plant, do not need painting and resist staining, acids, alkalis, oil and salt, have an estimated life of 25 years and without any fears of colour fading and surface erosion.
These are cost effective and ideal for thermoforming, vacuum forming, flooring and sides of buses and trucks, for use in refrigeration and washing machine industry.
"Our products are durable, maintenance free, resistant to insects, water effects, rotting, splitting, splintering, slippery, are safer for children and environment friendly," said Zafar Bhatti, Chief Executive of the Project.
"When compared to costly wooden products, the 'Maintenance Free Green Plastic Wood' costs much less for consumer and is source of earning for us," Bhatti said.
This project has capacity of recycling 7000 kg used polythene bags monthly and employs 500 workforce directly or indirectly. Lahore Compost, a solid waste recycling plant is another success story, working in co-operation with the Lahore City District Government to produce Compost - the Organic Fertiliser.
Dr Ata, an expert at Lahore Compost said, "100 tonne solid waste produce 25 tonne compost approximately and a 50 kg bag of compost is sold out for Rs 185."
"Compost is chemical free, cheaper and more useful for the land as compared to chemical fertilisers," he said. The plant apply the process of segregation, compressing and converting waste into Compost and employs 50 to 70 skilled, unskilled and semi-skilled labour.
If we simply calculate, the Compost might be producing fertilisers worth thousands of rupees daily. "It is a wonderful opportunity for private sector to work in public-private partnership," said Dr Ata and foresaw vast potential for this sector in the coming days.
Now had TetraPak's not been recycling, they would have been producing an additional 60,000 to 70,000 waste annually. Similar is the situation with GreenEarth and Lahore Compost which not only tried to keep cities clean but also earn money.
These efforts speak of hidden potential in recycling and call for awareness raising and promoting a recycling regime. With this investors can earn millions and our cities would also be cleaner. It is not simply a service to the nation but also an earning opportunity - let us explore it.