Islamabad, October 14, 2018 (PPI-OT): sssThe physical launch of Clean and Green Pakistan campaign held at Saidpur Village Islamabad on October 13, 2018 as part of the call by the Prime Minister of Pakistan for a “Clean and Green Pakistan” announced on October 8, 2018.
The cleanliness campaign in Saidpur Village was jointly organized by Ministry of Climate Change, UN Habitat, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Trust (AHKMT), and National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) in collaboration with the Chairman Union Council Saidpur. Mr. Malik Amin Aslam, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Climate Change and the focal person for the Clean and Green Pakistan was the Chief Guest. Ambassadors of Netherlands, China, Kenya, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Sudan participated in the programme.
Mr. Malik Amin Aslam, Advisor on Climate Change, Ministry of Climate Change appreciated the efforts for the programme being arranged. He highlighted that Pakistan is facing serious environmental issues which unfortunately have been getting worse as the country’s economy expands and the population grows. He reiterated Government of Pakistan commitment towards solid and liquid waste management, sanitation and hygiene and aims for community based collective behavior change.
He emphasized that Clean and Green Pakistan Programme focuses on launching of nationwide programme for environmentally sound disposal of solid and liquid waste; provision of public toilets; creation of complete ODF villages and starting a volunteer scouts programme to help support the campaign. He added that we would like to develop Saidpur Village into a model clean and green village which serves as a center of attraction for international tourists and visitors. I am thankful to UN Habitat and other partners for their offer to assist in setting up an Integrated Resource Recovery Center in Saidpur Village for maintaining healthy environment of the country.
Mr. Jawed Ali Khan, Habitat Programme Manager, UN Habitat at this occasion stated that the Integrated Resource Recovery Center (IRRC) offers a highly cost-effective way of improving waste management and cleaning the environment in the fast-growing cities of Pakistan. IRRC model in Islamabad demonstrates the potential for community-based waste management to improve public health, mitigate climate change and create safe jobs. For every dollar invested, the IRRC model offers USD 10 in benefits. The benefits are particularly significant in relation to improved public health and climate change mitigation, although employment creation also plays a part. The IRRC diverts 90 per cent of waste from centralized disposal and is a factor of ten cheaper than providing centralized disposal facilities.
The community members specially youth; students of schools and colleges; sanitary workers of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), AHKMT and local sanitary workers at the village level collected the solid waste. The dignitaries invited in the campaign also participated in cleanliness campaign. Integrated solid waste management model was demonstrated on site to promote the principles of “3R’s” i.e. reduce, reuse and recycle of waste management.
Three step waste management mechanism was demonstrated – collection of segregated waste, biological treatment of the organic fraction of the waste and sale of resources generated. This model can enables cities to turn waste into resources through composting, recycling and bio digestion, thereby diverting municipal solid waste from landfills or open dump sites.
Hygiene messages including importance of hand washing was imparted to the community members especially mothers, adolescence girls and boys and young children. Awareness sessions with the local community was conducted on open defecation free environment especially improvement of the toilet facilities in the village with proper end pipe solutions introducing the concept of safe, functional and hygienic toilets.
A painting competition reinforcing the pride and the sense of personal responsibility towards the cleanliness drive was held among the Behbood school children and prizes were distributed by the chief guest.
The first pilot Integrated Resource Recovery Center in Pakistan established in Sector G-15, Islamabad, in 2014 by UN Habitat in collaboration with Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Trust (AHKMT), and support of UNESCAP. In IRRC, solid waste material is collected, segregated and processed by using modest technology for processing. It recovers valuable resources by converting organic waste into compost, which is later sold in the market as an end product and used as fertilizer.
The waste is segregated into three different categories, organic waste which is bio waste or green waste typically comes from kitchen and restaurants including vegetable and fruit peels; recyclable waste (25% mainly, paper, packaging materials made of plastic, glass, tin, aluminium and other waste); and unusable waste material like stone and dirt (15%). More than 60% of waste collected is organic waste which is processed later for composting.
The recyclable waste is subsequently sold in the thrash market. IRRC model is an entrepreneurial model that has dual impact, on one side it an income generation activity while on the other side it helps to reduce the waste finally contributing improving the environment. This model also ensures financial sustainability of the initiative i.e. the revenues produced from waste recovery outweighing the operational costs incurred.
For more information, contact:
National Information Officer
United Nations Information Centre (UNIC)
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-8355720
Cell: +92-300-8553790
Email: ishrat.rizvi@unic.org