DNCC, DSCC plan to introduce new waste management system

Dhaka North and South City Corporations are expected to introduce a modern waste management system with the support of JICA in a bid to dispose of more waste in a smaller landfill.
The main concept of the new waste management system is intermediate treatment of waste by which less waste will be dumped ultimately in the landfill. It will be financially viable for occupying less space.
Under the master plan, there will be an eco-town in the extended area of Matuail landfill site, a special zone comprising various intermediate waste treatment plants for regional material-cycle society.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has proposed installing the new waste management system under the New Clean Dhaka Master Plan 2018-2032.
The master plan is at approval stage. Additional secretary (Urban Development Wing) Maran Kumar Chakraborti has been appointed as the project director.
A source at DSCC told the FE that one of the major components of the master plan is to extend the area of the Matuail sanitary landfill. Under the new waste management system, 3R-reduce, reuse and recycle-concept will be introduced.
Seeking anonymity, a DSCC official said waste generation in the city is increasing day by day. Waste generation in Dhaka is likely to increase from 6,500 tonnes per day in 2018 to 8,500 tonnes per day in 2032.
Besides, the urban area has been expanded in both the city corporations and the lifespan of Matuail landfill is only two years.
Under the master plan, the area of the Matuail landfill site will be extended from existing 100 acres to 181 acres.
The project titled 'Matuail Sanitary Landfill Extension project with Land Development' is in progress. It started in June 2017 and will be completed by June 2021. It took a long time for land acquisition which ended in July 2020. The DSCC has paid Tk 1.24 billion to the district administration for land acquisition.
The land use plan has been developed with the help of consultants for the extended space of the landfill.
There will be an incinerator plant of 1000 tonnes per day processing capacity, biogas plant of 200 tonnes, compost plant of 150 tonnes, recycle plant of 300 tonnes, construction waste recycle plant of 430 tonnes and medical waste incineration plant of 5.0 tonnes capacity.
There will be several processing plants of 2085 tonnes per day capacity at Matuail.
The Matuail sanitary landfill will also have the facilities in future such as resource recovery facilities, incineration plant, biogas facility, composting plant, e-waste recycling plant, G-brick factory and land reclamation.
At present, DSCC and PRISM are jointly managing hazardous medical wastes of DSCC & DNCC.
Under this medical waste management system, there are about 1,050 healthcare facilities (23 government hospitals, 323 private and autonomous and 704 medical services facilities).
All healthcare facilities of DSCC are under this hazardous medical waste management system.
Everyday around 12 tonnes of hazardous medical wastes are environmentally treated.
When contacted, the DNCC chief waste management officer and Maran Kumar declined to comment on the master plan.
It was learnt that JICA will provide soft loan in the form of technical assistance for implementing the clean Dhaka master plan.
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