By Ayesha Saba ISLAMABAD, Feb. 24 (INP-WealthPK): Like other developing countries, Pakistan also lacks waste management infrastructure, creating serious environmental and health issues. According to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA), the country generates approximately 49.6 million tonnes of solid waste a year, which is also increasing by 2.4% annually. Most municipal waste is either burned, dumped or buried on vacant plots, threatening the health and welfare of the population living around. The government estimates that 87,000 tonnes of solid waste are generated per week, mostly from major metropolitan areas. Karachi, which is Pakistan’s largest city, generates more than 16,500 tonnes of municipal waste daily. All the major cities are facing an enormous challenge of how to manage urban waste. The most common types of solid waste in Pakistan are municipal solid waste, hazardous industrial waste and agricultural waste. If the current trend in urbanisation continues, the urban population of Pakistan will cross the 122 million mark by 2030 with unnoticeable plans to manage the tens of thousands of wastes produced daily. Worldwide, in recent years, waste-to-energy technologies have been developed to produce ‘clean’ power through the combustion of municipal solid waste (MSW) in specially-designed power plants equipped with modern pollution-control equipment. In the US, 2,500MW of electricity is generated by the waste-to-energy plants. Many other countries, including Sweden and Japan, have also applied this technology over the last 20 years. In the subcontinent, India has installed three projects to produce electricity from waste with a total capacity of 17.6MW. Talking about Pakistani’s potential in producing power through solid waste, Dr Amir, a deputy director and research analyst at Pak-EPA, told WealthPK that, “Waste-to-energy technology can help Pakistan overcome electricity shortages and better manage solid waste.” Explaining the method, he said, “This is done through plasma convertors, using steam turbines to generate electricity. This is an environment-friendly way of not only disposing of solid waste but also producing a partially renewable (‘green’) fuel.” According to him, several Dutch companies have shown interest in investing in the projects of solid waste energy in Pakistan. “Dutch companies have great expertise to effectively use domestic and agriculture wastes to produce cheaper electricity. Exchange of technology and expertise between the Netherlands and Pakistan for electricity generation through solid waste will be good for Islamabad,” Dr Amir explained to WealthPK. In line with efforts to promote renewable resources of energy, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has also announced an upfront tariff of 10.007 US cents per kilowatt-hour for waste-to-energy projects based on an operational period of 25 years with overall capacity of 250MW. The initiative will not only feed electricity into the national grid, but also create jobs and contribute to the country's prosperity. Pakistan is facing various environmental and social issues associated with mismanagement of MSW. Considering the environmental issues, most of the countries in the region have already announced tariffs for municipal waste power plants. Despite being a cheap renewable energy source, MSW is largely neglected in Pakistan. As Pakistan strives to promote greener sources of energy to mitigate effects of global warming caused by excessive use of fossil fuels for electricity generation, it should also launch initiatives to produce power through waste. The government can involve the private sector in adapting to this method of energy generation.