Approaching Pakistan’s 48.5 Million Tonnes Solid Waste Problem: A Case Study
From research to design — how curiosity led me to solve Karachi, Pakistan’s solid waste problem.
Disclaimer: All the metrics, numbers, and research in this article are based on data from 2021 and may have changed since. Also, the smart bins shown in this case study are property of their respective owners, Envirobank, and are used here for demonstration purposes only.
It was end of April 2021, I was in my university’s last year sitting in project management class and listening to the lecture. As soon as the lecture ended, our professor presented us the final project. The brief was simple: all we had to do was come up with a winning idea. It could be anything — digital, physical, online, offline — as long as it solved some problem.
As someone driven by curiosity, I always wanted to work on something meaningful. Around that time, my fourth business had just failed and I was deep in a phase of reflection, trying to figure out what was next. That’s also when I stumbled into the world of product design. I realized this project could be my entry point into design and a chance to explore the craft by solving a real problem from the ground up.
So next morning I opened up Google and started searching for random ideas, market gaps, and startup case studies. I couldn’t find anything interesting, something that I would call a “winning idea”. The other day, I looked into UNICEF’s past projects with the hopes of finding something good and while searching, I came across something crazy — a statistic that would change everything.
“With over 48.5 million tonnes of solid waste being generated in Pakistan every year, it’s affecting people’s lives and reshaping entire cities. Karachi being one of the most noticeable examples…”
— According to ITA, International Trade Administration
48.5 million tonnes? Every single year?
Being living in this city for almost three years (from starting my university in 2017 till 2021), I started thinking about the garbage piling up in Karachi streets, the broken collection systems, the children playing near landfills, and how this growing problem had become such a normal part of city life that we’d stopped noticing it altogether.
That’s where it all began…
Understanding the problem
Before diving into the problem, let’s first understand the reason behind choosing Karachi.
Karachi, one of the largest and most populated cities in Pakistan, generates around 16,000 tonnes of waste every single day. A significant portion of this waste is collected by contracted pickers and dumped at illegal sites, out of which only about 40% is properly disposed of while the remaining 60% is left untreated — often burned or buried in vacant plots — leading to serious health risks and environmental damage.
Now that we understand the scale of the problem, I wanted to dig deeper and hear directly from the people living it every day.
After gathering some insights from the secondary research (research papers and published articles), I decided to validate the problem through real conversations. I interviewed around 10 people from different areas of Karachi to understand how they dispose of their trash and the challenges they face. Most of them shared that they use bins when available, but if there isn’t one nearby, they end up throwing the trash by the roadside simply because there’s no better option.
Here’s further breakdown of insights from people:
8/10 — Eight people said they dispose off trash in public bins in their neighbourhood and some of them further added, most of the times bins are full and they’re forced to throw it outside.
3/10 — Three people mentioned that they don’t have dustbins outside of their homes or nearby because of which they throw trash by the roadside or somewhere in vacant plot.
6/10 — More than half said waste disposal method is one of the biggest problems in their neighbourhood, oftentimes the bins are filled or not available.
Based on the problems identified from both primary and secondary research, I specified them into five different categories: waste management, collection & disposal, late pickup trucks, lack of technology, and lastly, general unawareness. This means…
- No structured system for tracking or handling daily waste.
- Limited routes, inconsistent schedules, and poor bin availability.
- Overflowing bins due to delayed municipal response.
- No real-time tracking or complaint/reporting mechanisms.
- Many residents are unaware of proper disposal methods or impact.
Connecting the dots
While the broader problem spans infrastructure, technology, and awareness, my focus was on how these systemic gaps show up in people’s daily lives.
Having lived in Karachi for almost 8 years now (till date), I have been observing people and patterns closely from overflowing bins to vacant plots being used as dumping grounds. These everyday moments made one thing clear: bin availability is a real problem. But beyond that, I realized that waste disposal challenges in Karachi weren’t just about people being careless, they were more about the lack of systems that enable and support responsible behavior.
Through user interviews and personal observations, three key areas emerged where these broader issues intersect directly with individual actions and choices:
1. Bins are hard to find, often full, or missing altogether.
Even when people want to dispose of their trash responsibly, they often can’t find a nearby bin, or the one they find is already overflowing. This lack of visibility and real-time information makes the entire process frustrating and unreliable.
2. There’s no motivation or structure for better disposal behavior.
People said they would use bins if they were available but availability alone doesn’t create habit. There’s no system that encourages, rewards, or reinforces positive behavior. It’s not fun, it’s not gamified, and it often feels like effort with no recognition.
3. There’s zero accountability or trace.
Once trash is dumped, that’s the end of the story. There’s no feedback loop, no record, and no system that connects a user’s action with a real-world response. This gap not only disincentivizes proper behavior but also limits how operations can improve or respond effectively.
Learning from everyday apps
I wanted to design the product in a way that was familiar to people, something they wouldn’t have to learn to use. In cities like Karachi, where digital literacy varies from area to area and attention spans are short, the last thing I wanted to do was keep the product as simple as possible without adding any complexities. Keeping that in mind, I started looking at some common applications that have changed the way we move around cities: Google Maps and Lime
We all use Google Maps almost everyday to find restaurants, get directions, or even explore good places near us. It’s just simple and straightforward. The map is clean, the icons are easy to understand, and using it feels natural. I thought, if people can use a map to find a café, they can also use it to find a dustbin nearby.
Lime, an electric scooter rental app on the other hand, turned out to be an unexpected one. While I was exploring some other similar location-based applications, I came across this amazing case study by Netguru “Reimagining the Line Electric Scooter Experience” and loved the way they incorporated gamification into their app.
To encourage positive behavior like wearing a helmet, using bike lanes, and even exploring the city, they reward people with Lime coins which can be further can be redeemed into free rides, discounts, and merchandise. I thought adding something like this would motivate people to throw in bins and recognize them as responsible citizens.
By grounding the design in patterns people already trust and understand, I hoped to lower the barrier to action and make participation feel easy and more enjoyable.
Designing some early concepts
Now that things were clear, I started off by sketching out some early concepts of how the main interface should look like. I wasn’t thinking in terms of screens yet. I was just trying to imagine how someone would find a dustbin, check if it’s usable, and feel good about using it. I kept the sketches rough and quick, focusing more on the experience than the visuals.
The goal was simple: make it easy to find bins, take action without overthinking, and feel like your small step mattered. These early drawings helped me shape the direction and gave me a starting point to turn ideas into something real.
Once the sketches were clear, it was time to move onto wireframes and turn those rough ideas into something more structured. I started building simple, low-fidelity screens that focused on layout, flow, and how each part of the experience would come together.
Based on the findings from our desk research and interviews, we came up with a solution to solve Karachi’s disposal challenges.
Introducing Recylo
Recylo is a simple, map-based mobile app designed to help people locate the nearest dustbins, check their status in real time, and build better disposal habits through small rewards and actions. Every part of the interface was built around the real problems people face in cities like Karachi.
The final design focuses on clarity, ease, and action. It’s familiar like Google Maps, thoughtful like Lime’s reward model, and simple enough for anyone to pick up and use. From finding a bin to tracking your own disposal activity, Recylo aims to turn an everyday act into something that feels purposeful even empowering.
Let’s dive into some of the features…
🗺️ A simple map-based interface: The home screen features a clean map that shows all nearby bins with status indicators, so users can quickly see which ones are empty, full, or being collected.
📍 Locating the nearest bin: Users can easily find the closest available bin based on their current location just like finding a nearby café or pharmacy on Google Maps.
🔗 Connecting bins made easy: Each bin has a unique QR code that users can scan to log their activity. This helps create a small feedback loop and brings a sense of interaction with the system.
🎯 Gamification: To make things a bit more fun, users earn points for throwing trash in the right place. These rewards encourage better habits, help people feel good about doing the right thing, and redeem them.
⭐ Save bins and contribute: Lastly, I also added saved and contribute tabs. Once a user finds a bin and disposes off some items, it automatically saves in their saved tabs for future use and users can even tell where to add bins if they don’t have any in their areas yet, creating a small but helpful community layer.
So to wrap it up, this is just a small step to improve millions of lives across the globe and make a difference.
Recylo started off with a curiosity to make finding a dustbin as easy as finding a café on a map. With all these features built around real urban challenges the goal wasn’t just to improve waste disposal process but also improve people habits, their neighborhoods, and eventually, make better cities.
While this case study focused on the user’s side, from locating bins, connecting with them, and small behavioral nudges, it opens doors to larger conversations about urban waste management. With that being said, there’s still so much more to explore when it comes to building a full ecosystem where users, contractors, and city officials can work together seamlessly.
The problem is real. The opportunity is even greater.
P.S. If you are interested in seeing how saved and contribute tabs look like, you can check out the sneak peek in wireframes or visit my previous case study around the same topic on Behance.
Thanks for reading! I am Pir Ahmed, a product designer, problem solver, and founder of Desnify.com — a simple, scalable UI system built for everyone to streamline design workflows. With a strong design sense and a systems-thinking approach to solving problems, I am dedicated to crafting experiences that feel intuitive and meaningful, turning ideas into tangible interfaces that people can truly feel and use.
👉 Explore my work at pirahmed.com and feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.
