LAHORE: Speakers at a seminar called on Monday energy production from waste a promising alternative to resolve waste management in Pakistan. The event titled `Energy production from waste, landfills and dump-sites` by the Urban Unit and the Lahore Waste Management Company was attended by waste management experts, energy specialists, NGOs working in the waste sector and experts of landfill site operations.

Turkish experts stressed the need to build the capacity of local companies.

`Pakistan has a lot of potential due to its high volume of waste and its technical capacities to build the systems but it needs to learn from international practices,` Ali Kantur, a pioneer in research, developmentandImplementation of localised technology said.

He said Turkey had achieved a great success in developing indigenous technological solutions for waste management. `We have notonly developed gas extraction and energy production facilities at wild dump-sites but also have established highly sophisticated dry digestion and gasification systems for waste management.

Azhar Ali, senior solid waste management specialist, said there had been some indigenous efforts to produce energy through biogas of waste dumps in Pakistan also. One such plant is working at a waste dump-site in Rawalpindi.

Dr Usman Hanif, wasteto-energy expert of the Urban Unit, and holds a PhD in waste pyrolysis also presented a case study of wasteto-energy project in Rawalpindi.

Rizwan Saeed, treatment and disposal manager at the Lahore Waste Management Company, shared information regarding bio methanisation of organic waste at biogas plants of Dunyapur and Lodhran.

He also briefed the participants about the LWMC working in the city through effective waste collection and transport system.