Sustainable community waste collection in Karachi, Pakistan

Low-income communities residing in squatter settlements usually develop their own services through self-help efforts. Such schemes include solid waste disposal, with the aim of placing household and other kinds of waste outside the locality from where it can be removed by municipal authorities. This minimalist system ensures cleanliness and basic upkeep in the community area. The system normally utilises a sweeper and basic waste-collection tools such as a wheelbarrow improvised for waste collection, hand tools and collection bins used by households for routine collection. A community mobilisation effort is required for the efficient working of such a system. In two low-income communities in Karachi, this approach was applied by a local non-government organisation (NGO), the Association for Protection of Environment (APE), in 1996. After providing continuous professional support for three years with the objective of acting as a catalyst, APE trained several members of the local community-based organisation (CBO) to manage and run the project on an independent basis. This paper provides an account of the approach and the system that evolved from it. After withdrawal of the NGO in 2000, the project has been working successfully under the supervision of the local CBO and area youth. This paper presents the lessons learned from the process of empowering communities to develop their own internal service systems. It addresses the issues that are vital in ensuring the sustainability of such attempts in urban lower-income localities.