Leading environmental experts, policymakers, and private sector representatives Monday emphasized the need for urgent policy reforms, technological innovation, and cross-sector collaboration to combat Open Waste Burning.
\nThey convened at a high-level policy dalogue on \u201cTackling Open Waste Burning Through Policy Reforms\u201d to address Pakistan\u2019s growing waste management crisis.
\nOrganized by the Institute of Urbanism (IoU) with support from the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), the event highlighted the severe environmental and public health impacts of open waste burning, particularly in informal settlements.<\/p>\n
With 49.6 million tons of municipal solid waste generated 30-40 per cent remains uncollected\u2014much of it burned in open spaces, releasing toxic pollutants.
\nDr. Ejaz Ahmad, Executive Director of IoU, called open waste burning a \u201cpublic health emergency.\u201d
\n\u201cIntegrated policy reforms can empower local governments and communities to build sustainable waste systems,\u201d he stressed.
\nWaleed Hameed, Director at Five Star Pvt. Ltd., highlighted private sector potential, \u201cInvesting in scalable waste-to-resource solutions can drive circular economies. Collaboration is key.\u201d
\nDr. Hamid Iqbal of Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC)noted: \u201cOperational capacity must expand to serve informal settlements, where open burning is rampant.\u201d
\nDr. Samia Qadeer, Professor at Allama Iqbal Open University, urged that Pakistan needs a national household waste policy. Academia must support evidence-based reforms.<\/p>\n
Zeeshan Ahmed from WWF-Pakistan warned: \u201cOpen burning releases deadly pollutants like dioxins, worsening air quality and accelerating climate change.\u201d
\nAfsheen Tajammul of 2Insects advocated for eco-entrepreneurship, Circular business models and formalizing informal waste workers can reduce reliance on burning.
\nThe IoU and RAE will compile findings into a policy brief for federal and provincial governments, pushing for immediate regulatory action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leading environmental experts, policymakers, and private sector representatives Monday emphasized the need for urgent policy reforms, technological innovation, and cross-sector collaboration to combat Open Waste Burning. They convened at a high-level policy dalogue on \u201cTackling Open Waste Burning Through Policy Reforms\u201d to address Pakistan\u2019s growing waste management crisis. Organized by the Institute of Urbanism (IoU) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":79637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79622"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79638,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79622\/revisions\/79638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}