Litter everywhere
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Syed Ishtiaque Reza
Not only the narrow lanes, even the broad avenues and VIP roads of the city are strewn with garbage.
People do not hesitate to drop garbage in open spaces and public places making them untidy.
Delays in garbage collection by city corporation makes things uncomfortable for all.
Private litter collectors dump garbage in open spaces, and storm water drains to cut handling costs. Commercial establishments especially hotels and restaurants, threw garbage wherever it suits them.
Accumulated garbage, overflowing bins, near residential areas, kutcha bazars or markets, await municipal collectors for long to the discomfort of passersby. Unsold vegetables and fruits are thrown on the roads and left to rot near kutcha bazars. No sooner the city corporation travels clear them vendors dump the roads again.
In this backdrop the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has taken a plan to change the way of disposal of litter, the city generates every day. With help from the Association to Assist the Underprivileged (ASAUP), an NGO the DCC split the city into 56 zones to set up small garbage dumping stations for a better litter collection.
DCC calls them mini waste transfer stations. Trash collected from the adjacent neighbourhoods would be stashed in these stations, before the garbage trucks collect from these instead of from each bin.
It would standardise disposal of trash, so that it does not overstay on the roadside bins any more, expect, the DCC. People would be required to drop their trash inside the containers, and not around it.
From the transfer stations, with paved floors, liquid waste would get into the connected Wasa sewage lines. The DCC cleaners would clean scattered trash using hosepipes.
The DCC is planning to employ full-time sweepers at the 12 transfer stations, already operational for prompt litter disposal. The city corporation expects to set up 24 more transfer stations soon.
The new initiative, expects DCC officials, would give the city a cleaner look and the city corporation a better waste management.
They said the proper management of 4,000 tonnes of wastes, generated by the city everyday, has been a headache for the city corporation.
Not only the narrow lanes, even the broad avenues and VIP roads of the city are strewn with garbage.
People do not hesitate to drop garbage in open spaces and public places making them untidy.
Delays in garbage collection by city corporation makes things uncomfortable for all.
Private litter collectors dump garbage in open spaces, and storm water drains to cut handling costs. Commercial establishments especially hotels and restaurants, threw garbage wherever it suits them.
Accumulated garbage, overflowing bins, near residential areas, kutcha bazars or markets, await municipal collectors for long to the discomfort of passersby. Unsold vegetables and fruits are thrown on the roads and left to rot near kutcha bazars. No sooner the city corporation travels clear them vendors dump the roads again.
In this backdrop the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has taken a plan to change the way of disposal of litter, the city generates every day. With help from the Association to Assist the Underprivileged (ASAUP), an NGO the DCC split the city into 56 zones to set up small garbage dumping stations for a better litter collection.
DCC calls them mini waste transfer stations. Trash collected from the adjacent neighbourhoods would be stashed in these stations, before the garbage trucks collect from these instead of from each bin.
It would standardise disposal of trash, so that it does not overstay on the roadside bins any more, expect, the DCC. People would be required to drop their trash inside the containers, and not around it.
From the transfer stations, with paved floors, liquid waste would get into the connected Wasa sewage lines. The DCC cleaners would clean scattered trash using hosepipes.
The DCC is planning to employ full-time sweepers at the 12 transfer stations, already operational for prompt litter disposal. The city corporation expects to set up 24 more transfer stations soon.
The new initiative, expects DCC officials, would give the city a cleaner look and the city corporation a better waste management.
They said the proper management of 4,000 tonnes of wastes, generated by the city everyday, has been a headache for the city corporation.