There are 63 Brick Kilns within the jurisdiction of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). All of these Kilns are situated within unregulated sectors / areas of Islamabad, leased/authorized by ICT.
The National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) for industrial gaseous emission under S.R.O No. 549(I)/2000 have already been notified by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA); however, due to undeclared status of brick kilns sector, there is no such specific NEQS in place for gaseous emission of Brick Kilns. In this case, the ambient air quality standards of Pak-EPA are being applied.
Further, the Ministry of Climate Change in collaboration with Federal and Provincial EPAs, International Centre for integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA), Pakistan Brick Kiln Owners Association, academia and other stakeholders have initiated the process of converting conventional Brick Kilns to Zig-Zag Technology.
In result of the above efforts, 04 bricks kilns have been permanently demolished, 49 brick kilns have been converted over environment-friendly Zig-Zag Technology; however, rest of the 10 brick kilns are under process of conversion.
Brick Kilns are highly polluting industries but these are mostly located in rural areas of ICT.
Brick Kiln emissions are difficult to monitor and regulate because of the informal scale of the industry; however, efforts are afoot to control air pollution from brick kilns.
The Zig-Zag Kiln Technology has been established to embellish fuel efficiency, energy savings and lessening in emissions.
All the owners of Brick Kilns who have not yet installed the pollution control technology have now submitted affidavits to convert their kilns to Zig-Zag Technology.
In 2021, Pak-EPA sealed 31 Brick Kilns that were operating in Islamabad without installation of pollution-control technology.
Recently, Pak-EPA has sealed 06 Brick Kilns who were operating their kilns in Sector H-16, Islamabad without installation of pollution control technology.
