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Please clean me!

Till the turn of the century, the Industrial sector of Pakistan had largely employed agood riddance, not my problem approach to disposing off industrial byproducts,especially untreated waste water. Rivers such as the Rohi nullah near Kasur had turned

into chemical cesspools, containing extremely high levels of Chromium and other toxicsubstances used in leather processing. It wouldnt be a surprise if such discharges ofeffluent have spawned new and mutated species of life forms imagine fish walking onland and venting their revenge. Official initiatives such as the Pakistan EnvironmentalProtection Ordinance along with the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS)had been promulgated in 1983. However, it took a good ten to fifteen years for any sortof practical implementation of its policies and reforms.

The environmental hazards that have been emerging since the advent of internationalindustrialization trends had not been weighing upon the conscience of the investors andparticipatory governments. It was only with the campaigning efforts of organizations

such as Green Peace along with public awareness that legislation was introduced ininternational trade agreements and adopted by the WTO.

In our case, it has been the threat of restricting imports from Pakistan by InternationalBrands such as Levis and Calvin Klein that has prompted local textile manufacturers toincorporate environmental and labor friendly reforms comments Adnan Iqbal, marketinghead Paramount Spinning Mills Limited. Adnan has been involved in marketing ready-made apparel for the past several years and has been in direct contact with internationalbuyers. These companies send their own team of specialists and engineers who monitorour entire manufacturing process and ensure that waste management regulations arebeing followed to the hilt, Adnan further points out.

Azher Uddin Khan, who is currently the Managing Director of National EnvironmentalConsulting, has been involved with projects regarding the implementation of CleanerProduction technologies in major industrial sectors. The Environmental TechnologyProgram for Industry (ETPI) was conceived and implemented in the later half of thenineties. It focused on advocating a structural shift from end-of-pipe waste treatmenttechnology towards radical design changes at the manufacturing stage, thus minimizingwaste production.

With regards to end-of-pipe treatment, the typical option is of treating industrial sewagewater through pH level neutralization, de-ionizing and removal of toxic metallic andorganic compounds. However, with Cleaner Production techniques, it is possible toimplement prevention of waste production at source. This can be achieved by moreenergy, skilled and conscientious labor force and improved means of recovery and reuseof raw materials and water resource management.

Though our program was successful in impressing upon a number of industrial unitssuch as in the chemical and sugar mills to adopt Cleaner Production solutions, the timeframe was only from 1996 to 2001-02. We passed on our research and proposals to the

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governmental regulatory departments but sadly the incumbents did not follow up andadvance the ETPI initiative. The outcome of ETPI is deplorable, even though it was ajoint project of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI)and the Government of The Netherlands. Azher further claims that private companiessuch as Engro Chemical though are in direct contact with consulting firms such as NEC

and are continuously exploring various Clean Production alternatives to conventionalprocesses.

A vase in point is of Shakarganj Mills Limited located in Jhang in the central Punjab. Astheir primary product is refined cane sugar, the waste materials such as molasses andwater are generally discharge in containment ponds. However, the treatment and recoveryof water for recycling was being hampered by fly ash and oil residues on the surface.ETPI conducted an environmental audit and ascertained that excessive wastage wasoccurring due to labor and manufacturing inefficiency. It then proposed CleanerProduction solutions that would achieve similar results and legislative compliance to anen-of-pipe water treatment plant. And the CP recommendations came at a much lower

price tag too, that of $50,000 - $70,000 as compared to a hefty $1.25 million for aneffluent treatment facility. Much of the recommendations involved segregating variouscomponents of the waste output such as mud, oil and water through improved filter andskimmer designs as well as routine maintenance of pumps, pipes conveyors and othervessels.

The problem of voluminous amounts of liquid waste being produced is compounded bythe over usage and water in washing and cleaning the materials such as in the textileindustries. The company that I work for now has very technologically advancedmachines for say, the stone-washing of denim apparel. They make use of a precise recipeof inputs such as water and energy to optimize performance and minimize wastage,explains Adnan Iqbal. However, the firm US apparel in which I was previouslyemployed, had a water treatment plant. But it was only operated in the instance of a visitfrom the foreign agencies as it cost them something about Rs 25,000 daily to run.

The problem of releasing massive amounts of untreated industrial waste into theecosystem is mostly of the lack of awareness and shortsightedness. The government hasturned an absolute blind eye to monitoring the impact of environmental hazards. An so itis only through the hidden blessings of our companies competing for a share in theinternational market that our ailing environment can be saved from complete and utterdisaster.