Coronavirus Impact: Garbage generation in commercial areas declines by 40-50 pc.

ISLAMABAD -- When the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration was making all-out efforts to keep people indoor to stem the coronavirus spread, garbage generation in commercial areas had decreased by 40 to 50 per cent, said the head of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad's (MCI) Sanitation Department on Wednesday.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the commercial areas in Islamabad were generating some 100 tonnes of trash daily which had now come to 50 to 60 tonnes due to the restrictions imposed by the local administration on people's movement in the wake of COVID-19, MCI Director Sanitation Sardar Khan Zimri told reporter.

Citing the example of Karachi Company, which has been sealed by the district administration recently due to spike in coronavirus cases in sector G-9, he said before the lockdown, the market produced 10 to 15 tonnes of solid waste daily which had gone to almost nil in recent days.

'As per an estimate, our total garbage collection has also reduced from 600 tonnes to 500 tonnes due to selective lockdowns in the federal capital,' he noted.

Zimri said more than 200 sanitary workers of MCI had been disengaged from the markets and deputed in villages where the garbage...