LESSONSIRRC Lessons Learnt Dissemination of Integrated

Resource Recovery (IRRC) Project

It is about the millions of people who are

vulnerable to the effects of Climate Change. It is about the numerous resources being managed inefficiently. It is about improper

solid waste management that has compromised the lives of many. And it is

about you, who understand the gravity of the matter and want to mitigate the risks.

Un-Habitat Pakistan Campaign Report

THE IRRC LESSONS LEARNT CAMPAIGN MEMBERS

Ministry of Climate Change, Government of Pakistan (MOCC)

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP)

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) Pakistan

Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Trust (AHKMT)

Jammu Kashmir Cooperative Housing Society (JKCHS)

Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (AAUR)

BACKGROUND OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT In the cities of developing countries across Asia and the Pacific,

rapidly growing quantities of waste are being generated. An urgent

shift towards a waste-to-resource approach is required in order to

address this. Typically, the organic fraction of solid waste in cities of

developing countries in the region averages between 51-65 percent,

with the fraction of recyclable inorganic waste averaging between 26-

33 percent. As well as a challenge, this presents a considerable and

largely untapped opportunity for resource recovery.

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN CONTEXT OF

PAKISTAN

Pakistan is no exception. In Islamabad, rates of solid waste

generation per capita continue to climb. In 2004, the total

waste generated in the city was 500-600 tonnes; this rose to

800-1000 tonnes by 2011. A large portion of this waste,

approximately 60-65 percent, is organic and a further 20-30 per

cent is recyclable. As a result, in 2015, the United Nations

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

(UN ESCAP), in partnership with UN-Habitat Pakistan, Waste

Concern, Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Trust, and Jammu

Kashmir Cooperative Housing Society implemented the

project for the country’s first Integrated Resource Recovery

Centre (IRRC) in Sector G15, Islamabad. The IRRC is an

innovative waste-to-resource model that has proven effective

in a number of cities across Asia and the Pacific.

RATIONALE BEHIND THE IRRC MODEL

Like other waste-to-resource initiatives, the IRRC model

offers, to municipalities and communities, alternative ways

of treating and disposing of waste. Successful initiatives rely

upon strong government commitment, sound operational

and financial management, behaviour change, and

community engagement for separation of waste at source,

and partnership building with a range of stakeholders.

Replication of the IRRC model in Islamabad, and in other

cities in Pakistan, is therefore a priority next step for

expanding the agenda of sustainable waste management,

waste-to-resource practices and principles of 3R in Pakistan.

This in turn contributes to on-going climate change

mitigation efforts in the country.

THE IRRC LESSONS LEARNT WORKSHOP

Following the successful messaging for Solid Waste

Management, it was time for relevant stakeholders

to sit together and discuss the future of solid waste

management in Pakistan. For this purpose, the

IRRC Lessons Learnt Workshop was organized on

20 January, 2016 with the objective:

“Introducing the IRRC to relevant stakeholders and exploring preliminary results

following three months of operations at Sector G-15 IRRC pilot facility; and discussing

opportunities for replication of the IRRC model in Pakistan”

The IRRC Lessons Learnt Workshop brought together relevant

Government ministries, donor organizations, academia, researchers, solid

waste management companies, civil society, private sector, media, and UN

agencies who undertook dialogue along the following lines:

The current waste-to-resource scenario in Pakistan;

Opportunities and challenges of waste-to-resource initiatives in

Pakistan; and

The IRRC pilot facility in Sector G-15 and prospects of its replication

in other cities of Pakistan

THE IRRC LESSONS LEARNT WORKSHOP SESSIONS

SESSION 1: The Integrated Resource Recovery Centre in Sector G15, Islamabad

The Integrated Resource Recovery Centre in Asia-Pacific

Mr. Joao Aleluia and Mr. Rowan Fraser, UN ESCAP

Piloting the IRRC model in Sector G15, Islamabad, Presentation

Ms. Bella Evidente, Country Programme Manager, UN-Habitat

Results and Performance of the IRRC toDdate, Presentation

Sumaira Gul, Programme Manager, Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Trust

Benefits of the IRRC for the Community in G15, Intervention

Mr. Latif Qureshi, Chairman, Jammu Kashmir Cooperative Housing Society

Exposure Visit to the Integrated Resource Recovery Centre in Sector G15, Islamabad

SESSION 2: An Overview of Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Pakistan

Mr. Azeem Khoso, Ministry of Climate Change

Mr. Nasir Ghafoor, WSS Peshawar

Mr. Mahmood Abbas Shah, MD NSUSC

Mr. Shakeel Gillani, Secretary Municipal Corporation, Muzaffarabad

DATE & VENUE OF THE IRRC WORKSHOP

The IRRC Lessons Learnt Workshop was held on 20

January 2016 in Crystal Ball Room Hall A, Marriott

Hotel, Islamabad, Pakistan. The event programme was

from 09:00 am to 04:45 pm.

SYNOPSIS OF THE PROGRAMME

A welcome address was given by Ms. Jannat Durrani, WASH Officer UN-Habitat Pakistan followed

by an introductory note by Mr. Azeem Khoso, Ministry of Climate Change. The opening speeches

gave way to the presentations by panellists in Session , an exposure visit to the IRRC facility in G-15,

and ensuing dialogue discussion in Session 2

VERVIEW Findings from Pakistan's first

Integrated Resource Recovery

Center in Islamabad shared by

UN-Habitat, UN-ESCAP, and

Partners

The IRRC is a pilot project of UN-ESCAP

and UN-Habitat which enables the city to

turn waste into resources through

composting, recycling, and bio-digestion

while also creating employment

opportunities.

Ms. Bella Evidente (Country Programme

Manager, UN-Habitat Pakistan), Mr. Joao

Aleluia and Mr. Rowan Fraser (UN-

ESCAP), Mr. Latif Qureshi (General

Secretary, JKCHS), and Ms. Sumaira Gul

(AHKMT) spoke about the efficacy of the

project.

While briefing the media, Mr. Lorenzo

Santucci (Economic Affairs Officer, UN

Escap) said, "Improving waste management

is an urgent agenda in a fast-growing

middle-income country like Pakistan. UN-

ESCAP has been promoting the IRRC

model across Asia-Pacific and it has proven

an effective and affordable solution,

especially in secondary cities and small

towns. The pilot in sector G-15 in

Islamabad shows that such solutions have a

great potential in Pakistan as well".

Ms. Evidente opined that, "The pilot IRRC

at Sector G-15 showcases the collaborative

efforts of the Government, UN-ESCAP

and UN-Habitat, communities, civil society

and academia. It has not only improved

facilities for the collection, recycling,

treatment and disposal of solid waste but

has significantly contributed to the cost-

effective, sustainable and climate-friendly

management of solid waste and highlighted

the potentials of turning waste into

resources."

Representing the private housing societies

of Islamabad, Mr. Latif Qureshi commented

that, “there are numerous social, economic,

and environmental benefits of this project

to the community of JKCHS. I would urge

other private housing societies and the

government to include it in their existing

and upcoming development projects to

ensure environment friendly solid waste

management”.

Representatives from MOCC, Economic

Affairs Division Government of Pakistan,

Ministry of Planning Development and

Reforms, Unicef, UNIDO, UNDP, Arid

Agriculture University, WSSP, NSUSC,

Municipal Corporation Muzaffarabad, ADC

Muzaffarabad, WASA Hyderabad,

Gujranwala WMC, Rawalpindi WMC,

HANDS, IUCN, and Local body elected

representatives were also present at the

event along with other notables from the

O

private housing societies, development

sector, and academia. The participants

pledged their support by writing messages

and signing on the Pledge Flex on display at

the Workshop venue. The IRRC Lessons

Learnt campaign was also a huge success on

social media, reaching above 13 million

impressions on Twitter and trending on 19

and 20 January throughout Pakistan.

The IRRC receives 3 tons of municipal solid

waste per day from surrounding local

communities and nearby vegetable markets

and produces compost and biogas. It is a

pilot project that will test the feasibility of

this model in Pakistan and its potential for

replication to other sectors in Islamabad

and Rawalpindi. In the medium term, the

replication of this model to other cities of

Pakistan is envisaged.

ESSION 1 Discussion points relevant to background

information and performance of the IRRC model

in Sector G15, Islamabad

Mr. Joao Aleluia

Programme Manager

UN-Escap

Mr. Rowan Fraser

Project Consultant

UN-Escap

Their session majorly talked about How to

promote the Integrated Resource Recovery

Center Model in Pakistan and create that as

benchmark and take it beyond. They

elaborated the Challenges of managing Solid

wastes in Pakistan and also shared how

other countries overcame their limitations.

This session highlighted how the IRRC

facility will transform waste into resources

and how a significant portion of waste can

be processed into an effective product, in

proximity to source of generation and in a

decentralized manner. The cost

effectiveness of the process was also

discussed and the steps were shared through

pictorials. Sustainable development benefits

of the IRRC waste to resource initiative

along with its economic, social, and

environmental benefits were highlighted,

not to forget how it makes organization

financially sustainable on its own.

S

Ms. Bella Evidente

Country Programme Manager

UN-Habitat Pakistan

Ms. Bella gave an overview of the program

and also talked about how we can help

other cities in the region to help them turn

solid waste crises around. Her main focus

regarding the program was on capacity

development from beginning through

exposure visits, managerial, and hands on

training. In order to implement this pilot

project, she insisted to ensure the following

approach should be taken:

Partnership with Govt./Local

Representatives

Behaviour changing and awareness

sessions

Managing facilities and improving

operations

Creating enabling environment for

scaling up

She also talked about how we can research

further and enhance the collected resources

into a range of projects, and also enhancing

knowledge and capacity through existing

pilot projects, highlighting ESCAP’s online

courses which can help other pilots to

successfully sustain in future. She also talked

about UN Habitat’s mandate and its goal

for sustainable development through solid

waste management and stressed that actions

would be taken both locally and globally at

World Climate Summit, Global Urban

Lectures, and Habitat III Conferences. She

later shared the background of waste to

resource in Islamabad, and the objectives of

this project and its project phases.

Ms. Sumaira Gul

Programme Manager

Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial

Trust

Ms. Sumaira started her session by

introducing AHKMT, and shared her story

of how the whole project started as a low

cost sanitation project and then later grew

into a solid waste management project.

She highlighted the role of AHKMT in

IRRC and how they are organizing and

coordinating resources to ensure all

operations i.e. collection and segregation of

solid waste, is done along with all the help

IRRC Needs. She further discussed how

solid waste is an avenue of an

entrepreneurial initiative and through its

sustainable nature it can help people

maintain their livelihood. She further

discussed such opportunities i.e. collection

fee, selling recyclable items to concerned

authorities, and creating products from

composites.

Mr. Latif Qureshi

Chairman

Jammu Kashmire Cooperative Housing

Society

Mr. Qureshi talked about the history of the

IRRC project and how it benefits the

housing society, not just by providing a

healthier environment but also by providing

ground level jobs to local citizens to sustain

their livelihood.

He also appreciated UN-Escap, UN

Habitat, IRRC and AHKMT for

implementing a very useful pilot in this

society. He further stressed on how solid

waste is not just a recourse utilization facility

but also an income generation system and

highlighted how IRRC projects contain lots

of social benefits like awareness and

sensitization, quality waste management

service, along with increasing value of the

society. He also talked about economic

benefits, Institutional benefits, and

Community benefits through such

initiatives.

XPOSURE VISIT Tour by UN-Habitat and Dr. Akhtar

Hameed Khan Memorial Trust of the IRRC

facility in G-15, Islamabad, Pakistan

After these sessions all the participants visited

the IRRC Facility in Islamabad Sector G-15,

where team members of UN Habitat, UN

ESCAP, AHKMT and people from other

organizations saw the facility and its

functionality. At the location, members of

AHKMT welcomed all visitors and introduced

the facility to them. They shared how the

project works and how the waste is effectively

distributed into composites which are later

turned into fertilizer. He further elaborated

about the dos and don’ts for employees which

serves as the bylaws of their work ethics while

they are out collecting trash.

Team IRRC later showed all cells where they

explained how much time it takes to convert

waste into the product and how the waste goes

through different processes. Team IRRC also

highlighted the cost effective measures they

have taken for on-going activities for electric

usage and water storage to make sure the

facility can sustain on its own for operations

without additional help from different

municipal organizations. Key features of the

facility are that it can take three tons of waste

on daily basis which later will be turned into

their product of fertilizer which they have

name “Haryali Khad”. Team further

highlighted that this facility is only facilitating

Sector G-15 at the moment and further such

facilities can help develop a cleaner and

environment friendly Pakistan.

Team also showed the biogas plan which will

later get operational to ensure that the facility is

100% self-sufficient and independent.

After further review, team members returned

back to Marriott Hotel for the remaining

session.

E

ESSION 2 Discussion points relevant to waste-to-resource

practices and initiatives in Pakistan, including

current trends, common practices and

challenges, and new ideas and opportunities

Dr. Arshad Nawaz, Director Advanced Studies,

AAUR, talked about his research work on Solid

Waste Management. His core discussion point

was on composting of municipal solid waste

prospects and perspective in Agriculture

University. He described the whole process of

how composting, how it is done, what

procedures and operations are involved in it,

and how it is useful for further processes. He

elaborated the different stages of temperature

where different components are separated from

organic waste and recycled. He further provided

the Compost Analysis Report for different

samples which were taken by extensive

Research by his university.

Mr. Azeem Khoso, Director Urban affairs,

Ministry of Climate Change welcomed all the

partners and participants and elaborated that

MOCC will be providing full technical support

to all partners who initiated the project and

also to those who implement this project. He

also declared that MOCC supports all such

initiatives and projects which are done in a

legal manner. He informed that EPA has

already carried out a survey with the support of

the community and management society

development.

S

Similarly, all the other panellists, Mr. Nasir

Ghafoor from WSS Peshawar, Mr. Mahmood

Abbas Shah, MD NSUSC, and Mr. Shakeel

Gillani, Secretary Municipal Cooperation,

Muzaffarabad shared their views about IRRC

project and discussed about the initiatives they

have been taken in their regions regarding

waste management.

Ms. Bella summed up the discussion in a very

appropriate manner and gave the closing

remarks. She appreciated all the participants

who enthusiastically participated in the IRRC

Lessons Learnt workshop.

CREATING A HYPE THROUGH #LESSONSIRRC SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

The social media campaign comprised of three

waste management activities over a period of two

weeks dedicated to social media advocacy.

Exclusive hashtags #LessonsIRRC and

#SortYourWaste were developed which were used

for advocacy purpose. Hence, hype was created

before 20 January 2016 in order to build up a

platform for dissemination of lessons learnt on

the day of the Workshop.

A team activity was conducted for UN-Habitat

staff, and public awareness campaign was

undertaken in sector G-15 and E-11 of Islamabad.

Messages and comments from public were taken

and uploaded on social media, these messages

went viral and gained massive recognition not just

in Pakistan but also internationally.

From January 17 to 21, 2016, #SortYourwWaste

was trending in Pakistan multiple times for an

hour and collectively 3 hours whereas it was

trending regionally (KHI, LHR, ISL) for more

than 9 hours. Especially in Karachi alone, where it

was trending for more than 6 hours in one go.

On 18 January 201, in just first 3 hours of the

activity, the overall impressions went from 90,000

to 6 million and by activity end, overall

impressions reached more than 13 million. People

started talking about #SortYourWaste and it

became one of the most talked about topics of the

day.

On the day of the IRRC Lessons Learnt

Workshop, the social media campaign was on ful

peak when Pakistan was shaken by the tragic

terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University,

Charsadda, causing an immediate halt in the social

media activity due to time sensitivity. The social

media activities commenced again after devoting a

moment of silence to the martyrs and affected

people of the Charsadda incident.

#SortYourWaste again began trending from 10:30

am onwards and sustained for more than 4 hours.

Overall the impressions for the day went beyond 9

million and buzz was created on the day with

multiple messages, pictures, and comments being

shared online.

The reach was not just confined within Pakistan

but extended to an international level. A hype was

created and social media influencers began talking

about the issue. The IRRC lessons learnt

campaign was hence not just within the event

walls only.

IRRC LESSONS LEARNT WORKSHOP MEDIA CAMPAIGN

It was expected that the event would not gain

much recognition on print and electronic media

owing to the sensitivity of the timings. All the

newspapers and media channels devoted

maximum paper space and airtime to the

Charsadda incident. Upon pushing extensively and

rolling out the Press Release thrice, only Pakistan

Observer gave news coverage to the IRRC

Lessons Learnt Workshop. However, the lack of

media coverage was compensated by the extensive

social media coverage which helped disseminate

the message of waste-to-resource and effective

solid waste management, creating more than 22

million impressions over a period of two weeks.

Pakistan Observer – January 23, 2016