Gulam Rabbani :
Waste generation in capital Dhaka is increasing alarmingly day by day. But, the two city corporations don’t have enough capacity to transport these waste, posing a big threat to the city’s public health.
The officials of two city corporations said they are being tensed thinking how they will handle this situation in future.
Though the authorities of the two city corporations do not know actual waste generation in a day, they have a statistics of waste collecting.
Besides Solid Waste, Medical Waste, Electronic Waste, Construction Waste, Food Waste and different types of Industrial Wastes are generated in the city everyday. The two corporations do not have the capacity to perform regulatory management of these wastes.
In addition to lack of capacity, there is no law to regulate the management of Electronic Waste, Construction Waste, Food Waste and Industrial Wastes, sources said.
According to a statistics, in fiscal 2016-2017, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) transported 8,52,391 tonnes waste to the landfill which is 24.77 per cent higher than 2015-2016.
The DNCC transported 6,83,288 tonnes waste to the landfill in 2015-2016 and 6,02,975 tonnes waste in 2014-2015, the statistics also showed.
The authorities of the corporation recently published a ‘Waste report’ on their activities in 2016-2017 session where the above statistics was quoted from the report.
Meanwhile, officials of the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) said that they transported 7,30,946 tonnes waste to the landfill in 2016 which is 13.5 per cent higher than transported waste of 2015. In 2015, they transported 6,43,984 tonnes waste.
In August, September and October this year, the corporation transported 2,16,648 tonnes waste to the landfill which is also higher than the waste transported in the same period of 2016, added the officials.
The DNCC report said, “It is evident from facts, figures and developing situation that waste volume will continue to increase day by day. DNCC might have to manage over 56,37,728 tonnes waste in the next five years.”
As of February 2017, there were 129.584 million mobile phone subscribers in the country. Mobile phone is an important source of Electronic Waste. Each mobile phone contains nickel cadmium battery comprising between 6 per cent and 18 per cent cadmium, which is toxic heavy metal and requires special treatment for disposal. But these batteries go into the environment untreated, read the DNCC report.
The DNCC has only one waste disposal site. Boliarpur of Savar is the only landfill where it dumps waste. It built the landfill on 52 acres land in 2005. But in the context of current waste growth, it is esteemed that the city corporation will have to manage approximately 6 million tonnes waste in the next five years.
In futuer, finding land in the periphery of Dhaka city for waste dumping will be extreamly difficult, added the report.
The DSCC has also only one waste disposal site. Matuail in the city is the only landfill where it dumps waste. But 90 acres area of Matuail is not sufficient to dump increasing waste. So, the authorities have requisited another site of 80 acres.
Chief Waste Mangagement Officer of DNCC Comodore Mohammad Abdur Razzak said his office always try to clean the city with their best efforts. But it will be difficult to tackle the issue in future as the waste generation is increasing day by day.
Additional Chief Waste Management Officer of DSCC Khandaker Millatul Islam said manufacture of waste energy from the waste and other recycling systems of waste are being processed. If these efforts are successful, then the amount of the waste will be reduced. But also then, we have to collect and transport the wastes.
Waste generation in capital Dhaka is increasing alarmingly day by day. But, the two city corporations don’t have enough capacity to transport these waste, posing a big threat to the city’s public health.
The officials of two city corporations said they are being tensed thinking how they will handle this situation in future.
Though the authorities of the two city corporations do not know actual waste generation in a day, they have a statistics of waste collecting.
Besides Solid Waste, Medical Waste, Electronic Waste, Construction Waste, Food Waste and different types of Industrial Wastes are generated in the city everyday. The two corporations do not have the capacity to perform regulatory management of these wastes.
In addition to lack of capacity, there is no law to regulate the management of Electronic Waste, Construction Waste, Food Waste and Industrial Wastes, sources said.
According to a statistics, in fiscal 2016-2017, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) transported 8,52,391 tonnes waste to the landfill which is 24.77 per cent higher than 2015-2016.
The DNCC transported 6,83,288 tonnes waste to the landfill in 2015-2016 and 6,02,975 tonnes waste in 2014-2015, the statistics also showed.
The authorities of the corporation recently published a ‘Waste report’ on their activities in 2016-2017 session where the above statistics was quoted from the report.
Meanwhile, officials of the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) said that they transported 7,30,946 tonnes waste to the landfill in 2016 which is 13.5 per cent higher than transported waste of 2015. In 2015, they transported 6,43,984 tonnes waste.
In August, September and October this year, the corporation transported 2,16,648 tonnes waste to the landfill which is also higher than the waste transported in the same period of 2016, added the officials.
The DNCC report said, “It is evident from facts, figures and developing situation that waste volume will continue to increase day by day. DNCC might have to manage over 56,37,728 tonnes waste in the next five years.”
As of February 2017, there were 129.584 million mobile phone subscribers in the country. Mobile phone is an important source of Electronic Waste. Each mobile phone contains nickel cadmium battery comprising between 6 per cent and 18 per cent cadmium, which is toxic heavy metal and requires special treatment for disposal. But these batteries go into the environment untreated, read the DNCC report.
The DNCC has only one waste disposal site. Boliarpur of Savar is the only landfill where it dumps waste. It built the landfill on 52 acres land in 2005. But in the context of current waste growth, it is esteemed that the city corporation will have to manage approximately 6 million tonnes waste in the next five years.
In futuer, finding land in the periphery of Dhaka city for waste dumping will be extreamly difficult, added the report.
The DSCC has also only one waste disposal site. Matuail in the city is the only landfill where it dumps waste. But 90 acres area of Matuail is not sufficient to dump increasing waste. So, the authorities have requisited another site of 80 acres.
Chief Waste Mangagement Officer of DNCC Comodore Mohammad Abdur Razzak said his office always try to clean the city with their best efforts. But it will be difficult to tackle the issue in future as the waste generation is increasing day by day.
Additional Chief Waste Management Officer of DSCC Khandaker Millatul Islam said manufacture of waste energy from the waste and other recycling systems of waste are being processed. If these efforts are successful, then the amount of the waste will be reduced. But also then, we have to collect and transport the wastes.
