A clean Dhaka is a faraway dream for its residents

 
Bangladesh is preparing for the so-called 4th Industrial Revolution, but it has no modern waste management system, particularly in the capital Dhaka, a city of 22 million people where solid waste is dumped on the street, in an open space. Cleaners separate rubbishes at open-air dumping spots and secondary transfer stations, or STSs, without caring about safety precautions, as the waste is transported to landfills in overflowing trucks, from which liquid waste drips onto the streets.

Unable to bear the foul smell, pedestrians and commuters pass the dumping locations with their noses covered with hands or clothing. For some, it is also natural to hold the breath. The air was filled with a terrible smell from an STS near Noyatola Park. Children and teenagers play in Noyatola Park with a STS nearby. The elderly walk in the park, but they are all put off by the repulsive smells. The situation is worse at Bangla Motor dumping station. There are no safety precautions taken by primary waste collectors. They work tirelessly as if the terrible smell does not reach their nostrils, and the majority of them keep themselves occupied mostly with plastic separation.

 There are more than 70 open-air dumping stations in the two city corporations, 30 of which are located in areas under the DNCC and the rest under the DSCC. According to a study titled 'Urban Waste Management in Bangladesh: An Overview with a Focus on Dhaka' published in October 2021, Dhaka deals with roughly 6,500 tons of waste each day, with that number expected to rise to 8,500 tons by 2032. Economic expansion and changes in people's lifestyles mean solid waste continues to rise. Primary waste collection service providers, or PWCSPs, collect waste from various locations, including homes, and transport it to approved STSs or open-air dumping sites, bdnews24 reports.

The city corporation does not manage these primary waste collectors, who are engaged from the informal sector. They collect waste from dawn to dusk and then sort it for recycling. After sorting, the waste is loaded onto trucks, which depart at midnight for Matuail and Aminbazar landfills. The garbage collectors' primary goal is to separate plastics from waste in order to sell those products in Bangladesh's unlawful recycling market. According to experts, it is possible to recycle 80 percent of waste in Dhaka, but the city has failed to do it because of a lack of proper waste management.

"We've been working on waste management since 2016, and our experience says the DSCC's waste management system is the worst of all. In the DSCC areas, you will get waste, wherever you go," said Farid Uddin, the founder of a youth-based organization called BD Clean. He advised the introduction of color-coded trash segregation bins so that waste separation is less time-consuming. He believes that if people utilize the color-coded waste segregation containers, waste separation will get less haphazard. Professor Dr Rowshan Momtaz of BUET's Department of Civil Engineering, however, disagrees with Farid. "Color-coded waste segregation bins are absolutely a very significant phase of solid waste management but it will never work without building recycling and composting facilities."

"Let's say, I separated my waste in different bins but if the cleaner mixed up those after collecting, what will you do? Basically, it functions as a chain link. So, we must make progress in terms of technology and behaviour if we are to reach our goal."

"We didn't plan before developing this city," said Professor Dr Tanvir Ahmed from the same department of BUET. "And, in this sector, we still don't have a proper long-term master plan. It's been always neglected for no good reason. Everything we do is on an ad-hoc basis."

Currently, one portion of the waste is taken away by the cleaners, many of whom are children from poor families, he said. Another portion is thrown away in landfills, and the rest gets burnt by the city corporations, adding to Dhaka's air pollution woes.

Landfilling, according to both professors, cannot be the solution at any cost as Bangladesh, a densely populated country, does not have enough land to do this.

They recommended constructing recycling and composting plants as soon as possible. They said if garbage is delivered in a categorical manner, it does not need to be sorted at the STSs.

For example, two trucks will arrive at STS, one for the composting plant, which will transform the waste into organic fertiliser, and the other for the recycling plant. The rest of the non-recyclable materials will be transferred to a landfill and burnt in an incinerator, destroying all of the pollution-causing particles.

They also stated that the way city corporations use landfills is completely ineffective. After reducing the volume with a compactor, soil layering must be done on a regular basis in the landfills, and then the waste will be decomposed naturally, although it may take more than 50 years.

SM Sharif-Ul Islam, the DNCC's chief waste management officer, said they stopped transporting waste during the daytime after an accident. "Now it has become extremely difficult for us to collect waste before morning and transport it to landfills due to the lack of vehicles, and personnel as well."

The DNCC is planning to purchase and install smart litter bins with CCTV cameras so that people can use those bins and thieves are unable to steal them.

According to him, the Amin Bazar landfill has risen 80 feet above ground level. So, they have started constructing an incinerator facility there under a 25-year project to produce electricity.

He said 3,000 tonnes of mixed waste will be used for producing 42.5 MW of electricity per day. Bangladesh Power Development Board will purchase the electricity at Tk 18.29 per unit, according to him. China Machinery Engineering Corporation has been appointed to construct the facility.

Air Commodore Sitwat Naeem, the DSCC's chief waste management officer, said they will primarily place container boxes in its 20 wards. Six more wards will be brought under this programme this fiscal year.

"We're implementing a New Clean Dhaka Master Plan. If the project runs well, we'll produce organic fertiliser, biogas, and electricity from waste."