Creative remedy for waste management

Solid municipal waste could be a freely available potential fuel for power generation. A few years back, the matter was taken up but later abandoned for some unknown reasons. I would implore upon the government to seriously take it up with the French government, even if the project cost in terms of taka per megawatt is higher. Apart from very little imported liquid fuel per MW of power; we can use our solid waste as the main fuel.

Being a dual-fuel power plant, naturally the capital cost per MW of power will be higher. To begin with, we should go for utilizing municipal wastes for power generation in the cities of Dhaka and Chittagong. Subsequently we can go for cities of Khulna, Rajshahi and Sylhet and so on.

Lest we forget, even if we use 25 per cent imported liquid fuel for the dual fuel steam boiler along with segregated municipal waste, the overall fuel cost in terms of foreign exchange required for fuel per MW-hour of power generation will be less. More importantly, it will solve the disposal problem of the increasing municipal waste which could reach unmanageable levels by another few years.

The sooner we take up this project, the better for us. Otherwise the costs and problems related to handling of this solid waste, particularly in urban areas will become a huge burden and create health hazards in the days ahead. Though the cost of manual sorting of solid municipal waste (garbage) for firing in the boilers of these power plants seems high, it is all in local funds and this will also create employment for many unskilled labourers who are also growing in number day by day.

This writer, in overall national perspective, will implore upon the government to go for this method of power generation, that will solve both the problems of municipal waste disposal as well as growing unemployment. The government which has done reasonably well in solving the problem of perennial shortage of power, should take up this matter with the French government, as this method is successfully utilized for power generation in France, a pioneer in this matter.

This will be totally safe and will reduce the volume of wastes which also create hazards like Cholera and other dangerous diseases. In my sincere opinion, this is a matter of priority and will cost us much less than the potentially dangerous radiation hazard from nuclear power plants. We should not forget that any disease related to radiation hazards passes on to future generation too.

Engr. S. A. Mansoor

Dhaka

sam@dhakacom.com