Environmental Impacts of the Existing Solid Waste Management System of Northern Lahore

With the substantial increase in solid waste due to industrialization and urbanization, the environmental damage has also aggravated, making the management of solid waste an important issue throughout the world. Global warming, species extinction, imbalance in nutrient cycle and random disposal of hazardous waste are some environmental problems threatening sustainable development. The solid waste from the study area mainly consists of organic waste (66%), recyclables (25%) and miscellaneous waste (9%). About 10% of the organic waste is composted by public facilities funded by the government; whereas the entire miscellaneous waste is dumped at dumping sites without going through any treatment. About 41% of the recyclables are sold to junk shops by households, and 28% are sorted out by scavengers at dumping sites. An EASEWASTE model is used to evaluate the impacts of existing solid waste management system on environment. The major gases which contribute to life cycle impact assessment are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), CFCs (CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113, CFC-114 and CFC-115), HCFCs (HCFC-22, HCFC-123, HCFC-124 and HCFC-141b), HFCs (HFC-125, HFC-134a and HFC-152a), halons, tetra chloromethane (CCl4), 1,1,1-trichloroethane (CCl3CH3) and carbon monoxide (CO), and global warming potential is calculated by the EASEWASTE model at different timelines, i.e. 20, 100 and 500 years, respectively. Human toxicity via water and air is also evaluated and it found that the existing system is polluting the environment in many ways.