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The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CENTIN) at UMT invited Asif Farooki, CEO, Waste Busters, as the guest speaker in a seminar on waste management. Most of us do not take solid waste management seriously. However, Asif changed everyone’s perception regarding waste management. He started his presentation with a real time video about his business. He said that solid waste management industry is non-existent in Pakistan as it is considered to be the responsibility of municipalities. However, there are serious shortfalls in service delivery on part of the government due to lack of resources. Farooki said that he foresaw commercial opportunities in local government service delivery and launched the Lahore Sanitation Program through his company, Waste Busters.
Explaining the business process, Farooki said that the company collects organic and inorganic waste. Organic waste comprises mostly of kitchen waste, garden clippings, animal dung, etc. This waste is processed into organic fertilizer through bio-composting. This fertilizer is used for soil enrichment and enhancing the yields of corps through better utilization of the nutrients in the soil.
The inorganic waste is sorted at the MRF and picked out by workers on the sorting belt. The waste is stored into plastics, paper, glass, metals, nappies / rags, PET bottles, Tetrapak and bones. The sorted waste is sold to respective industries and some of the waste is recycled at the in-house plant to make products such as plastic wood and tetra sheets. Cement industry is one of the biggest customers of sorted waste. He said that his company plans to open waste banks in various places where people can submit their waste and get paid in return.
At the end, Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad, Rector UMT, shared his views with the audience. He also presented a souvenir to Asif Farooki. Rashid Hussain, Director CENTIN, thanked all the faculty members and participants of the seminar.
Earlier, Asif Farooki was warmly welcomed by Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad, Dr A R Kausar, Pro-Rector UMT, the CENTIN team, and HSM faculty members.
It is worth mentioning that Asif is the pioneer of private sector participation in solid waste management sector of Pakistan. He holds a Masters Degree in Environment Engineering from Northwestern University, USA. He has earned several prestigious awards including the Best Practices Award by the UNDP and the Urban Governance Initiative Award by the World Bank. His model of a low cost sustainable solution in waste management is now being used in several municipalities in Pakistan and is now being offered to other developing countries. He is currently serving as an advisor to the Ministry of Environment.
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