CE-357: Environmental Engineering-I

Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC)

Submitted To:
 Engr Mr. Nouman Khadim
Submitted By:
 Saddam Hussain- (F2017132020)

Date: 5/11/19

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING (SEN)
UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE

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 Lahore Waste Management Company-(LWMC)
Abstract:
Lahore is a metropolitan city of Pakistan, which is located in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The
current situation of the solid waste management in Lahore is not well as should be; Population of
Lahore is increasing day by day, which is causing enormous production of waste in the city. Being
a most populated city of Pakistan, it does not have a proper solid waste management system.
Several waste management companies are working in the city but they are unable to reduce the
issue. There is no Governmental level recycling system. It is estimated that at present
approximately 27% of waste by weight is recycled through informal sector. Lahore is not
performing very well in Governance, including the user and providers of waste management in the
city. In the Lahore District, Mehmood Booti is the only authorized open dumping site developed
by city district government, which is now unable to fulfill district's requirement.

Introduction:
Increase in the population levels, growing economies, rapid urbanization and industrialization,
development, and improved living standards are causing the fast increase in the volume of
municipal solid waste (MSW) around the World as well as in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistan is also
facing serious challenges in terms Municipal.

Methodology:
The Methodology adopted for this report compilation, data is collected from different research
papers and official reports.

Background of Solid Waste Management in Lahore City:

Lahore is the capital of Punjab covering an area of 1772 square kilometer having a population of
11.3 million as of 2017. The rate of population increase in Lahore is 3.1%, which is higher Than
the 1.55% average population increase in Pakistan Currently, SWM in Lahore is the responsibility
of LWMC.This Company started operations in 2011 and is responsible for Waste collection,
transportation and disposal, together with street sweeping. LWMC has 58 officials and 10,000
field workers for waste collection and disposal.

Waste Collection (in Lahore City):

In the current system in Lahore city, the dominant method of waste collection is secondary
collection. The two private companies are, according to their contract with LWMC, operating in
17 out of 150 union councils, collecting 292 tonnes of waste every day by door-to-door collection
procedures. Waste is collected by the waste workers at fixed time from each household in the
plastic bags provided by the companies, and is then taken to the nearest communal container site.
The other 133 union councils are still being covered by LWMC and there is no door-to-door
collection in those areas. As LWMC does not provide door-to-door collection in the133 union

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councils it serves, informal waste collectors provide primary collection, using either donkey carts
or wheelbarrows. They collect the waste and sort it for recyclables. The households usually pay
them every month for their service, either in cash or in barter for items such as food and clothing
those areas. It is important to note that LWMC is not responsible for waste collection from
cantonment areas of residence for military personnel and their families and private housing
societies, as these areas are responsible for their own waste collection and transportation. The
waste from these towns, however, is dumped in the city either in the designated dumpsites or on
vacant plots.

Waste Disposal (In Lahore City):

Disposal of waste is a weakness of Lahore Solid Waste Management, There is no landfill in the
city of Lahore. A proposal was presented as part of the masterplan Lahore-2021 (NESPAK, 2004)
for three new landfill sites, but only one of these sites, Mehmood Booti, is currently in operational
mode. Two more sites are also being unofficially used by LWMC to dispose of waste, namely
Saagian dumpsite and Bagrian known as Tiba dumpsite. A weighbridge is installed on Mehmood
Booti and is used to measure the amount of waste brought to the site every day. This site has been
in use since 1997 and is in the flood plain of the river Ravi, which flows almost 5 km away; it has
never been upgraded to a landfill as proposed. The level of waste dumped at each of the disposal
sites was observed to be about 8 ft higher than the ground level; there are no leachate management
facilities. Lahore performs rather poorly on the environmental indicator as there is no controlled
or semi controlled landfill site in the city. The waste treatment facility composting plant is however
run as a controlled facility, so the score of Lahore on this indicator is thus 8%.

Conclusion:
The current waste management system in Lahore has some major institutional and operational
deficiencies. Efforts are made by the Lahore city towards improving SWM, but the improvements
are not sufficiently comprehensive and results are not impressive, still a lot of focus is required for
waste collection and disposal. Overall, it can be concluded from the current study that lack of
planning, and of both public and political will, are key issues to improving SWM services in the
Lahore city.

References:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10669-018-9672-y
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0734242X14545373
http://transylvanianreviewjournal.org/index.php/TR/article/view/706

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