Forbes has spotlighted Punjab’s Suthra Punjab initiative as one of the world’s largest and most advanced digitised waste management systems, crediting the province for transforming a long-ignored waste crisis into a scalable climate and development success story.
Launched and rolled out across the province in just eight months, Suthra Punjab now provides a unified, digital waste service to nearly 130 million people, handling around 50,000 tons of rubbish every day.
The system integrates cities and remote villages under a single provincial authority built around the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC).
According to Forbes, the initiative stands out for skipping small pilot projects and moving directly to province-wide implementation. LWMC CEO Babar Sahib Din said the programme combines political support, strict monitoring, and digitised operations.
Trucks, bins, and routes are tracked in real time, while contractor payments are linked directly to performance data, reducing manipulation and “ghost” payments.
The financing model blends public funding, user fees, and revenue from waste-to-energy projects and carbon credits.
Punjab has already begun developing large-scale waste-to-energy plants, including a 25MW facility in Lahore that will feed power into the national grid.
The project has created more than 100,000 green jobs and significantly reduced open dumping, clogged drains, and informal landfills. Officials say the waste-to-value investments are expected to cut nearly two million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually.
Suthra Punjab was also showcased at COP30 in Brazil as a leading example of integrated climate and waste management.
Cities worldwide, from Jakarta to Nairobi, are studying the model.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the rapid progress, calling the improvements “truly transformative” and crediting Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and her team for driving change.
Truly transformative!
Rapid and visible improvements in solid waste management across Punjab.My deep commendation to Chief Minister Punjab @MaryamNSharif and her team for their dedicated efforts in this regard.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) November 30, 2025
The provincial government says the next phase will focus on scaling recycling, composting, and energy generation to further reduce landfill pressure and turn waste into economic opportunity.
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