Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is often overlooked in environmental management schemes in many developing countries, including Pakistan. Waste handling is a multidimensional challenge that requires careful evaluation of environmental impacts, technical requirements, implementation strategies, and financial implications, all of which depend on feasible treatment and disposal methods. To make informed decisions, including environmental mitigations, while optimising resource recovery from waste, we need baseline data on MSW composition, generation rate, collection efficiency, waste treatment and disposal, and related climate impacts.

The Government of Pakistan has prioritised the waste sector, as evident from various initiatives over the past fifteen years, including insourcing/outsourcing modes for MSW management. These models are adopted by provincial Local Governments and Community Development (LG&CD) departments. However, most municipalities and waste management companies/authorities continue to focus primarily on staff visibility, manual sweeping, waste collection and open disposal without environmental consideration. In doing so, our municipalities overlook the sector’s potential for resource and cost recovery.

A sectoral analysis was conducted at the national level under RASTA,........

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