e-guard in G-15
Islamabad being the capital city has been build through a master plan, all development projects are carried out under the supervision of CDA (Capital development authority). CDA is responsible for all the services for the citizens including housing, water and sanitation, solid waste management (SWM) etc. Islamabad city is divided into 05 different zones. Regulations permit any group or person having a minimum land of 1600 kanal for developing a housing society or residential colony. The city has been divided into different sectors and residential and commercial areas, places for parks and government sector buildings are well defined. Details of total land per zone is provided in the table below:
With the passage of time and increasing population most of the people from all around country migrated here for the sake of jobs and settled here. Islamabad is one of the peaceful and clean cities in the country, and people prefer to live here forever. So the need of housing also increased and private sector housing societies extended the city by formulating planned housing schemes just like the other sectors of Islamabad. These residential areas also have proper commercial areas, parks, different educational institutions and health units.
G-15 (A private sector)
G-15 is also one of the private sector housing plan by Kashmir housing society Islamabad lie in zone V. This society was established in 1980 and was registered in 1981 under the Cooperative Societies Act 1925. The society has so far acquired 911 hectares of residential land with the allotment of 15000 plots. This is an independent society, responsible to provide all the necessities and services to its residents. CDA has nothing to do with all these private housing societies, just it provides NOC to these kind of societies. G-15 is an emerging housing society, consisting around 1000 houses at the present, some are under construction. Most of the vast area is still empty in the form of plots and in future those areas will be occupied by houses as well.
Solid waste management system in G-15
To provide a neat and clean environment to the residents is one of the main responsibilities of the housing societies. For that solid waste management is a necessary part and housing societies are supposed to provide all services. CDA is responsible for the SWM services in the sectors come under capital umbrella. G-15 housing authority gave a tender notice in one of the newspaper for the solid waste management services. AHKMT (Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial trust) a local NGO availed the opportunity as a e-guard company and looking after the SWM system in the community.
E-guard Model by AHKMT
AHKMT already was working in 5 cities of Pakistan on e-guard model for the sake of solid waste management. That whole project was funded by U-N habitat. E-guard model mainly focus on the primary collection of the waste from selected house hold in every particular area. The e-guard collectors or sanitary workers are being trained for the purpose; they collect the domestic waste from door to door and segregate the waste on the spot. The recyclable waste is usually non-biodegradable and further different recyclable materials are put in different bags hanging with the collection carts. And the remaining waste is disposed off in nearby RCB (Rawalpindi Cantonment Board) or any other municipal authority’s disposal point. After segregation the recyclable materials are sold by E-guard collectors but some biodegradable waste of nearby household is hand over to Haryali Center where Compost is produce from this waste. First time “Haryali center” was established near to TMA Potohar town area Rawalpindi where biodegradable waste composed of kitchen waste (food scraps, seeds, vegetable and fruit peels, tea bags, Egg shells etc) and Garden Waste (Grass cuttings, Leaves, twigs and branches) is segregated for composting processes. The first Haryali center was spread on the almost 16 kanals land but with the passage of time and experience the land of Haryali center was reduced to 20 marla for 1000 households (HH). EM(Effective Microorganisms) technology is utilized to produce natural compost from these organic materials, after 15 days compost is ready for use.
E-guard Company
AHKMT is basically a non-profit organization working for the development sector of the country. Their vision is a sustainable development, so they introduced e-guard company which is totally self-sustained. In G-15 the company started the task of SWM as a small scale profitable business by accepting the tender of the society. The e-guard company started their service with 500 households and 250Rs charged per household per month and with the passage of time the number of house hold increased up to 1000 with commercial enterprises.
The e-guard company is headed by a chief executive, and three teams are working under his supervision. There is field supervisor who is looking after all activities in the field from the regular collection of waste to the disposal point. The e-guard collectors collect waste daily in 26 days in a month except Sundays, so they provide 26 bags per unit for a month. There are a total of 11 people further divided into 3 teams. One team is responsible for the collection of waste from door to door, there are 3 vehicles with 3 drivers, 4 collectors, and 2 supervisors, supervise the workers. Another team is responsible for the distribution of bags to each house hold. The third team is responsible for the segregation of waste in the disposing point. In G-15, they have their own disposing point allocated by the society and society also assigned an office for the e-guard company where all the records of activities are being kept. The society also has a complain cell where people complain when they face any problem regarding the services or if the service is not satisfactory. Then the supervisor and chief executive take notice of complains in order to make the service more efficient.
In the main office of AHKMT there are two more people who are also affiliated with the company. The program manger of AHKMT gives the technical assistance and look after the administrative aspect of the company, another person is dealing with the accounts.
Future Plan (Establishment of Integrated Resource Recovery center (IRRC)
AHKMT innovative approach is the establishment of Haryali center, where the waste is segregated and compost is made out of the organic waste/kitchen waste. Haryali is a local terminology referring to greenery, in this center different kind of vegetables are grown by utilizing the same compost and even this compost can be selling to different nurseries. The e- guard model is base on 3Rs, reuse, recycle and reduce. In G-15 particularly, AHKMT is shifting from Haryali center to more advance term as IRRC which will be more efficient and reduce the waste to zero level and G-15 will become a zero waste generating community. This will be a PILOT phase project with the collaboration of UN-habitat and UNESCAP. The land for the establishment of the IRRC has been already provided by the Kashmir housing society free of cost. The proposed land of the IRRC is located in sector G-15 operated by Jammu and Kashmir
The IRRC plan starts with the collection of solid waste from 1000 household for the first year and then extending the collection services to 2520 households in 5thyear.The IRRC will have the capacity to process 4 ton of waste per day. After segregation of waste the organic waste will be treated through aerobic decomposition and will be processed for compost formation whereas inorganic waste will further be segregated into recyclables and rejected material. The recycle resin will be sold out in the market and the rejectables will be transported to the main collection point from where it will be safely disposed of by Municipal Services Department of Capital Development Authority. AHKMT persons got training from an NGO called Waste Concerns which is effectively working on IRRC in Dhaka city. This NGO will be providing all technical assistance. If this concept will be effectively implemented in G-15, then AHKMT will appreciate CDA and other concern authorities to replicate the model in other parts of the city as well for the sake of effective solid waste management to keep the environment clean. AHKMT will involve other stakeholders for the sustained operational cost and other recovery benefits and they can also mobilize this innovative approach for SWM in different areas and replicate it.
Conclusion
The role of AHKMT cannot be ignored when it comes to the Solid waste management in different areas of Pakistan. G-15 is a private sector by Kashmir housing society, gave the contract of SWM in the area to AHKMT on the basis of e-guard model. AHKMT formulated e-guard Company a small scale self sustained business and give services to G-15 residents by charging them a service fee of 250Rs per HH. IRRC is a new technical approach which is going to be implementing by AHKMT in G-15 as an initiative Pilot project with the collaboration of UN-Habitat and UNESCAP to reduce the waste to zero level. AHKMT has played a vital role in solid waste management in different aspects and ways according to the nature of the area whether it’s a backward poor urban unit or a planned housing society.