Utilising household waste

This refers to Mahmud Ali's letter on utilising household waste, published in the March 31 issue of the FE. I believe the writer is not aware that "Waste Concern", a private organisation, is collecting household wastes and converting it to usable fertiliser. However, its setup is still small and it can cover only some parts of the large number of houses in Dhaka city area. The government should encourage and support such useful recycling activities but I wonder if the authorities are even aware of what is being done about it.
Another unused source of valuable 'Methane' gas is human solid waste. Except for some small activities by GTZ, there is very little news about utilising this potential raw material for obtaining gas. This is an area where more awareness and support from the authorities are badly needed. The 'solid human waste', mixed with waste, lubricating oil and waste plant bits and pieces, can be used as fuel briquettes. These fuel sources, both gas and briquettes, has been well established and utilised in the urban and some rural areas all over Thailand since the past ten years or more. Thailand has no natural resources but today it is practically free from the need to import any coal, oil or gas as a result of utilising human and some animal solid waste. In contrast, we are importing fuel while our natural gas supply is dwindling day by day.

Engr SA Mansoor
Dhaka
sam@dhakacom.com