It is important to build awareness about the participatory aspects of the people in solid waste management and also about what things need to be done for proper waste disposal on a regular basis. Many people are found to be careless and littering the roads with the wastes instead of putting them inside dustbins. Many others do not care to dump the wastes in the dustbins at the time specified by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC). The DCC is found to be rather uncaring in habituating the people with these orderly practices. Thus, there is a lot that the DCC ought to be doing through regular publicity campaigns to make the citizens conscious of their responsibilities towards waste disposal.
As for the large scale actual disposal of the waste, the traditional mode of dumping wastes at landfills-- some of which are near to residential areas -- is most undesirable to say the least. The authorities concerned should initiate moves for seeking external assistance to set up a modern solid waste management system for the city that would include also recycling of wastes. Such a project should envisage comprehensive waste collection and recycling activities that would sort out the wastes in different categories for recycling.
The kitchen wastes would be treated and turned into composts, wastes in the form of tin cans would be recycled and turned into tin sheets and all kinds of broken and useless glasses, into glass sheets. Even large quantities of the wastes from organic sources can be burnt to produce notable amount of electricity to be supplied to the Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority (DESA). After completion of such a project, the poorly managed and polluting landfills will give way to a much cleaner process, leading to vanishing of the wastes or their transformation into products of economic value. Indeed, the authorities concerned must not lose any time to line up funds for undertaking and implementing such a project.
Management of hospital wastes is another matter but a serious issue from the environmental and health perspectives of the city's people. Laws need to be in place and these should be strongly enforced to ensure that such health hazarding wastes are burnt in incinerators and to prevent their indiscriminate throwing on the roads which is largely the unchecked practice now.
Abul Hashem
Swamibag, Dhaka
For improving waste management in the city
FE Team | Published: November 04, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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