Waste as Resource for Pakistan: An Innovative Business Model of Regenerative Circular Economy to Integrate Municipal Solid Waste Management Sector
Name
sustainability-15-06281.pdf
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20.79 MB
Format
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Iqbal, Asif
Yasar, Abdullah
Tabinda, Amtul Bari
Haider, Rafia
Sultan, Imran Ali
Kedwii, Aman Anwer
Chaudhary, Muhammad Murtaza
Sheikh, Muhammad Minhaj
Nizami, Abdul-Sattar
Date Issued
April 6, 2023
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Citation
Sustainability 15 (7): 6281 (2023)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a global concern, especially in low–middle-income countries such as Pakistan, which require the redressal of MSW treatment issues to attain sustainability in the waste sector. The prosperity of municipal solid waste (MSW) collectors, i.e., the sanitary workers, is critical in the waste management hierarchy. Hence, the health, safety, social welfare, economic conditions and overall wellbeing of this tier need to be focused on more. Safeguarding the interests of the sanitary workers will support the MSW management sector in sustainability, which will help to generate revenue and minimize climatic impacts. An innovative MSW business model with waste ownership and technological intervention has excellent potential to support the sector towards a circular economy in Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world, generating about 100,000 metric tons of MSW per day. The proposed recycling business model will ensure a daily material recovery of 26,070 tons with 4721 tons of compost manufacturing in the country, which ultimately helps towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and meeting the targets of nationally determined contributors (NDCs) by 2030. In addition, the sector’s economic potential can contribute 5.5% to the total annual budget and possibly pay 1.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) per annum to service national foreign debt, thus helping maintain the debt threshold value with an opportunity to accelerate the economic growth of Pakistan.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/su15076281
