Circular Economic Process Design for Rural Economy of Pakistan for Sustainable Development

Table of Contents

TABLE OF FIGURES

1. INTRODUCTION:

2. METHOD:

3. CURRENT PRACTICES IN VILLAGE ECONOMY:

4. IMPLICATIONS OF WASTE GENERATED FROM THREE SYSTEMS OF RURAL ECONOMY IN PAKISTAN
4.1. ECONOMIC IMPACT:
4.1.1. Potential Economic Loss From Four Major Crops:
4.1.2. Potential Economic Loss from Animal Waste:
4.1.3. Financial Subsidy to Electricity and Gas Consumers:
4.2. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
4.2.1. Deforestation:
4.2.2. Green House Gases Emissions:
4.2.3. Waste Water:
4.3. SOCIAL IMPACT
4.3.1. Energy Poverty:
4.3.2. Girl Illiteracy:

5. SUSTAINABLE WASTE RESOURCE UTILIZATION TO CREATE PROPSERITY AND ACHIEVING SDGs:
5.1. CIRCULAR ECONOMY THROUGH ‘WASTE TO FOOD’:
5.1.1. Establishment of Animal Waste and Crop Residue Collection Mechanism:
5.1.2. Establishment of Biogas Plants :
5.1.3. Establishment of microgrid:
5.1.4. Wastewater Treatment Plants:
5.1.5. Treated Water and Waste Slurry from Biogas plants:

6. Conclusion:

REFERENCES

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CIRCULAR ECONOMIC PROCESS DESIGN FOR RURAL ECONOMY OF PAKISTAN FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Guiding innovation in systems of design and manufacturing towards more sustainable outcomes.

Abstract

Pakistan is an agrarian economy.It has over 60% population living in rural areas.Agriculture produce , livestock and milk production is their major livelihood.Cotton crop also feeds textile sector which is second largest constitutor to GDP after agriculture and also employs most labour force.Domestic animals , livestock and agricultural output are main pillars of rural as well as national economy. Domestic animals provide milk, meat and raw leather while leaving behind animal dung/waste.This animal dung is left on heaps to decompose and methane gas from this waste adds to Green House Gases and after months it is used as manure in agricultural fields. Some progressive farmers use it for biogas generation and domestic fuel.Four main crops give out valuable residue. But this residue is left as waste on the fields after picking some part of it for fuel, animal fodder and shelter.It decomposes in open fields or is burnt causing smog and poor air quality and adds to Green House Gas emissions.Then, there is waste water from rural households which is not treated having minimum sanitation , methane emission and is wasted to the sea.In this article, ‘waste to food’ and ‘cradle to cradle’ approach has been used to design sustainable process of rural circular economy. This process adds value to generated waste and is used to achieve sustainable development goals from this value addition and resultant additional resources.

Amjad Hafeez (ah2039@cam.ac.uk) amjadhafeez111@gmail.com

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Traditional Linear Economic and Industrial Process. Cradle To Grave (CircularESummit, 2018)a

Figure 2: Circular Economy (CircularESummit, 2018)b

Figure 3: Four Major Crops and Residue System Linear Process

Figure 4:Waste Water System from Rural Households

Figure 5: System of Animal Waste and Linear Process

Figure 6: Energy Poverty : a wicked and messy problem

Figure 7: Energy Poverty --- a Wicked Problem

Figure 8: Sustainable Process Design Characteristics

Figure 9:Waste to Food and Cradle to Cradle Process in Circular Village Economy

Figure 10:Rural Circular Economic Process and Sustainable Development Goals in Pakistan

1. INTRODUCTION:

Earth has finite resources. The demand for resources is increasing with population increase and resultant economic growth. The generic process of Take-Make-Dispose is putting great stress on earth’s finite resources. As Demand increases, economic system takes raw materials from natural world , converts it into some value added product, supplies it to the consumers and consumers dispose it off with the end of its lifetime or replacement with new updated version of that product (Braungart et al., 2009a).Apart from this product conversion , we are consuming resources for our food and this demand for food is growing exponentially. The time is nearing when this will deplete resources and we will have to search for new worlds to feed human population on earth (Fenner & Ainger, 2014). But there is another solution to this problem. That is replication of natural food chain in economic and technological systems. This is called circular economy or cradle to cradle approach. For millions of years , biological nutrients were being returned to earth to enrich it. Industrial processes have given rise to technological nutrient which is input for techno-sphere for reuse. To this system there is no waste. This is called cradle to cradle (Braungart et al. ,2009b). This is to integrate various components of economic system and industrial processes in a way that a waste output of one industry becomes input for the second interconnected industry in the form of a cycle . This is also called waste to food phenomenon which gives rise to circular economy. But this transition to a circular economy, where the value of resources is preserved in the techno-sphere, must be supported by policies and operational decision-making based on evidence (Eleni et al., 2017).

Pakistan is one of the top producers of milk in the world with total annual production of over 42 million tonnes. This milk production is from farmers with individual buffalo and cow herds. This milk and dairy output contribute 11% to the national GDP. These animals also provide meat and raw leather for the industrial sectors. These animals generate waste in the form of dung and urine. This waste is used for fuel purpose at rural homes and used as manure for crops. Before using, it is left to decompose in the open which generates methane and other green-house gases along-with unpleasant and unhealthy odour. This animal dung in hundreds of million tonnes per annum has potential of producing biogas, natural gas and electricity as a clean fuel source for rural household and for national grid as well. There is second category of waste from crops as residue left on the field or burnt after consuming certain quantity. Wheat straw, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse and maize straw and related residue are used for animal fodder and fuel while the residue in excess of need is burnt on the fields or left to decompose which in both the cases emits green-house gases and environmental degradation. Major cities such as Lahore faces poor air quality and smog during winter season because of transport and chiefly because of stubble burning by farmers after harvesting rice crop during winter season. Then there is waste water from rural households, which is left untreated, becoming breeding ground for mosquitos, green-house gases, unpleasant smell and a host of health issues. These three waste products are a resource which can be used to generate clean fuel, electricity and additional income as well as impetus for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by generating additional incomes and minimizing environmental degradation through sustainable design of rural economic processes by linking them through circular economy principles.

2. METHOD:

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Figure 1: Traditional Linear Economic and Industrial Process. Cradle to Grave (CircularESummit, 2018)a

In this paper, we will review literature and data of waste water, crops residue and animal population and its generated waste in rural areas of Pakistan. We will check estimated potential and then link wastes from three sources , that is animals, waste water and crops residue to design circular economic process for rural economy. We will be using ‘waste to food’ approach for these three kinds of wastes to generate clean energy resource for rural households.

This will help reduce poverty by generating additional sustainable incomes for rural households, hunger mitigation, clean cooking fuel, women empowerment through girls education, deforestation mitigation , and climate change mitigation with cultural adaptability , which are many of 17 Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) (UNO, 2018).Treated Recycled Water from rural household and Manure as additional product from biogas plants will be used for crops to increase productivity with less expenditure on synthetic fertilizers.Recycled Water Reuse and Manure to crops is practical application of ‘cradle to cradle’ : giving back to Earth the nutrients which have been taken away through food cycle. This will help earth enrich itself for sustainable output for a longer period of time and living within Earth’s finite limits.

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Figure 2: Circular Economy (CircularESummit, 2018)b

3. CURRENT PRACTICES IN VILLAGE ECONOMY:

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Figure 5: Four Major Crops and Residue System Linear Process

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Figure 4:Waste Water System from Rural Households

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Figure 3: System of Animal Waste and Linear Process

We will be discussing current situation and possible potential of waste resource from three different sectors of rural life in Pakistan. Figures , 3,4 and 5 indicate the current processes in three systems generating waste material in rural economy. These are linear processes with primary use of resources with no consideration of reuse or waste to food mechanism. There is some utilization of animal waste and crops residue but that too is utilized inefficiently and to the detriment of environment with minimum benefit to rural economy.

4. IMPLICATIONS OF WASTE GENERATED FROM THREE SYSTEMS OF RURAL ECONOMY IN PAKISTAN

4.1. ECONOMIC IMPACT:

4.1.1. Potential Economic Loss From Four Major Crops:

A conservative estimate by Saeed et al suggests that the crops residue ,if collected from Rice, Wheat , Sugarcane and Maize crops can generate 40 Billion KilloWatt Hours(KWh) of electricity with thermal power plant of 30% efficiency. Average basket price of electricity per KWh is 10 cents. This translates into 400 billion rupee per year of potential resource which is lost due to inefficient collection and non-employment of innovation in this sector.This fuel loss translates into almost 10% of total annual budget.These are calculations of four major crops used at 30% thermal efficiency of power plants. With waste heat recovery and high efficiency through use of Combined Cycle Power Plants , this efficiency can be raised to 60% which will double the revenue generated from 400 billion to 800 billion rupee.It is pertinent to mention here that Combined Cycle Power Plants (CCPPs) with 62% thermal efficiency are already in use in Pakistan for Liquified Natural Gas(LNG) based power plants at Bhikhi, Balloki and Haveli Bahadur Shah locations in central regions of the country.

Table 1 : Four Major Crops Residue & its Potential for Power Generation (Saeed et al., 2015)

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It is evident from this table that a valuable renewable resource of energy and power is being wasted .

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