City corporations’ trash bin project in shambles
Many of the bins are heavily damaged, while others were stolen or destroyed completely
The Azimpur Street, under Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), is littered with trash. The city corporation had tried to curb littering by installing metal trash bins on the roadside, but many of them are in a dilapidated state.
A lot of these bins are heavily damaged, while others were stolen or destroyed completely.
A local shopkeeper, Rahman Ali, said: “I had a trash bin in front of my shop and it was really helpful to me and my customers. But the bin was stolen within a month of being installed.”
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The Azimpur Street is not alone. Many roadside trash bins installed across the capital city have seen better days. It is apparent that the project, implemented by Dhaka North and South City Corporation back in 2016, is presently in shambles.
According to sources at the DSCC and DNCC, around 70 percent trash bins have already been damaged or stolen. Around 30 to 35 percent of the bins got stolen within six months of installation.
The DNCC has lost every trash bin installed in its city corporation area, according to its Waste Management Department Executive Engineer Md Ekramul Hoque Khandoker.
Meanwhile, Chief Waste Management Officer of DSCC, Air Commodore Md Zahid Hossain said: “Most of the bins were stolen by drug addicts. It is the duty of law enforcers to protect the bins, not ours (DSCC).
“Raising public awareness against littering on streets is also very important so that people can avail the garbage disposal facilities being provided to them. We presently have no plans to repair or replace roadside trash bins.”
Responding to a query, DNCC official Ekramul said: “We had launched campaigns, held ward meetings and made public service announcements to raise awareness on the use of trash bins.
“However, the project did no pan out as we had expected.”
As part of a project to keep Dhaka clean and green, both city corporations had installed 6,700 metal trash bins, at a cost of Tk 5 crore in 2016. The bins were installed every 150 meters in densely populated areas and 300 meters apart for less densely-populated areas.
Speaking about a long term solution, DSCC official Zahid said that new initiatives will be taken to improve waste management in the capital after conclusion of the Metro Rail Project.
