As Gram-Bangla's economy grows, its environment wastes away

The sunny morning was finally fading, making room for a warm afternoon along the banks of the Kumar River in Tekerhat, Madaripur. Standing on the iron bridge, you could see the river bending to the left. The view was beautiful, with the setting sun and greenery on the far side of the sleek river. 

However, you could only enjoy the view if you overlooked one of the two cleaners of Tekerhat Bazaar. He was dumping all sorts of waste into the riverside from his waste carriage.

We cannot remove all the waste every day due to lack of space. There will be no more space in the dumping station in two years. However, if the power plant starts working in the meantime, the problem could be solved.

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Suman Dutta, Sub-Assistant Engineer, Brahmanbaria Municipality

After snapping some photos from the bridge, we hurried down to the bazaar to confront him. Mohitul barely introduced himself before returning to his duties in the bazaar.

After shadowing him for nearly an hour, we met his colleague who joined him. Both men proceeded to carry their waste carriages to the river. Oblivious to our presence, they continued their routine. We captured photos of them in the act of dumping waste in the river, realising that these simple men were unaware of the environmental consequences of their actions.

In the chicken market, we asked one of the shopkeepers if he knew where all the waste they produce is dumped. "In Kumar River," he responded. "But sometimes municipal cleaners come with their vans and take them to the dumping station," he added. 

With increased expenditure comes increased waste, hence the haat-bazaars in the local areas see increasing pressure of waste every year.Photo: Mehedi Hasan

Just moments before evening fell, we noticed a municipality van heading towards the river with a load of waste. On being casually asked about their destination, one of the workers responded, "Kumar River." However, as they neared the river and realised journalists were following them with cameras, they abruptly turned back and hastily disappeared.

A local journalist accompanied us and said although there is a secondary dumping station nearby, municipal cleaners often throw the waste in the river. He said he had recorded a video of them dumping waste in the river and posted it on Facebook. But nothing changed. 

Apart from the riverside, waste was haphazardly scattered beside the main roads. During visits to several other bazaars in Rajoir, we observed a similar scene: waste strewn indiscriminately here and there.

Najma Rashid, the mayor of Rajoir municipality, said, "The shopkeepers are indiscriminately disposing of waste. We have installed signboards instructing against waste dumping, but these signboards also vanish after some time."

Asked if setting up signboards was all they could do, she said, "We do not encourage cleaners to dump waste in the river. The cleaners are supposed to dump them at the dumping station near the oil pump. I am looking into the issue."

"This is a 12-year-old municipality. We are doing our best. We have not received permission [to build] our main dumping station," she replied, when asked why they were disposing of waste in a canal.

Bangladesh has 12 city corporations and 330 municipalities, 10,273 haats and bazaars, of which some 1,687 have been transformed as growth centres and 700 more are to be added as new centres. The state of waste mismanagement is somewhat the same everywhere.  

TBS correspondents from 12 districts went into the field to explore the scenario and observed the chaotic state of our solid waste management system. 

The bazaars and markets are the major solid waste generation spots. We looked into 43 unions in the country and according to the government websites, they have more than 180 bazaars. These bazaars are leased according to the Haats and Bazaars (Establishment and Management) Act 2023. 

There are no sections or articles regarding waste management in the Act. 

In March 2023, Rivers and Delta Research Centre (RDRC) conducted a year-long physical survey on 56 selected rivers in Dhaka, Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Barishal and Chattogram divisions. And they found that each is suffering from extreme pollution. 

According to the report, at least 16 of the 56 rivers are polluted with household and plastic waste. Some 35 rivers are polluted by plastic, industrial waste and household waste from municipalities.

The report pointed to plastic and polythene as the prime river pollutants. 

The waste generators 

The government generates approximately Tk744 crore in revenues from 7,972 leased haats and bazaars across the country. A previous TBS report mentioned that 448 growth centres will see investments of Tk3-5 crore each. 

Turning haats — rural weekly markets — to growth centres is how the government hopes to bring dynamism to the rural economy. The transformation of haats and bazaars into growth centres includes, but is not limited to, building a shed with four stalls for female sellers, separate stalls for meat, fish, and vegetables, a slaughterhouse, a tube well for clean water, etc. 

While rural economies get more vibrant, along with it competes the consumption rate in Bangladesh. The country's consumption rate picked up to a record high of 18.36% in FY22. Consumption swelled to Tk38.18 trillion that fiscal year compared to Tk26.55 trillion in the previous fiscal year. 

According to CEIC, a provider of global macroeconomic data, Bangladesh's public consumption accounted for 5.7% of its nominal GDP in June 2022.  Meanwhile, Bangladesh's GDP per capita has doubled to $2,765 in the last decade. 

But with increased expenditure comes increased waste — hence the haat-bazaars in the local areas see increasing pressure of waste every year. 

Besides, the pressure of single-use plastic is increasing every year. According to ESDO (Environment and Social Development Organisation) in Bangladesh, every year, about 87,000 tonnes of single-use plastic are thrown away.

According to the World Bank, as mentioned in the Centre for Policy Dialogue's (CPD's) briefing note 'Wrapped in Plastic: The State of Plastic Pollution in Bangladesh', the average per capita consumption of plastic increased from 3kg per year in 2005 to 9kg per year in 2020. In Dhaka alone, the average consumption of plastic has increased from 9.2 kg annually in 2005 to 22.25 kg per year in 2020. 

This has resulted in continuous pressure on Bangladesh's rivers. Every bazaar that we saw on the river banks are heavily polluted with plastic and other waste. Many small rivers have lost their course, burdened by the hills of waste thrown into them from haat-bazaars. 

The waste 'managers'

Currently, there are nine laws and policies regarding waste management and control at the national level. Starting from the union parishad level, the laws and regulations include district-level involvement in the process. 

Sections in the Local Government (Union Parishad) Law 2009 and the Local Government (Municipality) Law 2009 say the union parishads are responsible for removing waste and animal faeces from roads, while the municipalities have to properly remove, collect and manage solid waste.

Photo: Mehedi Hasan

The national 3R strategy states that the waste needs to be segregated at the source, placed in different bins, there should be compost bins in households, and material recovery facilities should be built.   

In 2021, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change introduced the Solid Waste Management Rules 2021. According to Article 3 of the rule, a national coordination committee consisting of 21 members would be formed as in-charge of the nation's waste management system. 

The secretary of the environment ministry would be the chairman of the committee, while the other members would come from the ministry, the finance division, city corporations, and environment and waste management experts. 

This committee is supposed to determine the waste management process to be undertaken and instruct the local governments. It can ask for explanations and serve show-cause notices to the local governments if proper waste management is not implemented. 

It is also mentioned that the government, upon discussion with the committee, may form oversight or supervisory committees at the local government level to ensure that the waste management system is being followed properly.

The policy has been circulated by the ministry but it is the local government (city corporations and municipalities) responsible for implementing the guidelines. There is no clause for consequences or punishment though. 

The rule states that the coordination team must have at least two meetings a year to discuss the plans and the updates. But the environment ministry website shows that there has been only one meeting regarding solid waste management in the ministry. Since 2017, they have had nine meetings regarding overall waste management. 

Despite repeated attempts, the ministry could be reached for comments.

Websites of 12 city corporations and 30 municipalities show that a few of these have taken steps like providing waste baskets to the bazaars. 

Last December, the Jashore municipality sent notices to the homes, hospitals, clinics and stores situated near the Bhairab river, warning them that throwing waste into the river would result in action against them.

"We have warned them in the last four months, but have not taken any strong actions against them yet," said Jashore Poura Nirbahi Officer Md Zayed Hossain. 

According to the latest Municipality Solid Waste Management Survey 2022 by the BBS, in the year 2020-21, 12 city corporations and 328 municipalities among the 330, produced 74,13,839 tonnes of solid waste. And 79.22% of this solid waste was collected by the city corporations and municipalities. 

Food waste made up 19.46% of this municipal solid waste, followed by paper and cardboard (18.92%) and plastic (16.62%). 

But what happened to this huge amount of waste? According to the survey, only 3.15% of this waste was recycled. And 69.97% of the total solid waste was disposed of in the landfills. 

In 12 city corporations and 330 municipalities, there are a total of 494 landfills, out of which only 12 are sanitary and only two have gas collection facilities. 

There are certain protocols and processes to follow while maintaining a landfill. The Solid Waste Management guidelines say that the landfill has to be at least 200 metres away from any kind of water body, there should be buffer zones surrounding the landfill, and the dumping station should have a non-permeable lining on the wall so that the liquid discharge does not mix with water bodies.

But before moving the municipalities and local governments, let's see if the landfills and dumping stations in the capital Dhaka have any such facilities? 

Md Mofizur Rahman, the deputy chief waste management officer of Dhaka North City Corporation, said that they have 52 Secondary Transfer Stations (STS) where household solid waste is stored. From here, scavengers collect some recyclable waste like cardboard, plastic, and glass. The rest is taken to the dumping stations and landfills.  

"In the landfills, the waste is buried in several chambers and a layer of soil is spread to cover the waste layer every week. That is how the waste is managed here," he explained.  

But when we asked whether the landfills are following the guidelines mentioned in the rule, Mofizur hesitated for a moment and said, "We still have to work on these issues." 

In fact, as we explore the six municipalities of the country, you will see that the common dumping stations are on the banks of rivers like Kumar, Mahananda, Padma, etc. 

The policy gives 28 responsibilities to the local government authority, the very basic of which is providing three dustbins for the people of an area — green bin for degradable waste, yellow for non-degradable waste, and red for hazardous household solid waste which includes sanitary napkins, e-waste, chemicals, sharp objects, etc. 

However the municipalities we investigated barely implement these basic rules of solid waste management.  

Hold your nose when in Lakshmipur 

Established in 1976, Lakshmipur municipality now has around 5,000 people per square kilometre. However, despite 48 years having passed since its formation, the development of a waste management system remains elusive. 

Municipal Sanitary Officer Md Abdullah Hill Hakeem revealed that 20-25 tonnes of waste are generated daily across the 15 wards of Lakshmipur municipality, with 40% being non-biodegradable. The 82 cleaners in the area utilise five trucks and 35 vans to collect the waste. 

However, although a dumping station was established in 2021 spanning four acres of land in Ward No. 4, it remains inactive because the Bangladesh government and donor agencies have not fulfilled all the conditions. Hence, the municipality fails to clear the garbage from that area. Both city residents and municipal authorities are now grappling with the town's waste management issues.

Ramganj, Raipur, and Ramgati municipalities of the district mirror a similar state. Additionally, there is a lack of information regarding waste management in any of the 260 markets across the district.

Municipal cleaners sort waste in the densely populated area near the bus station, right in front of the municipal office. Pedestrians must cover their noses while passing through the area. Garbage is disposed of on both sides of the regional road in North Tehmuni, Eterpool, Bisic Shilpa Nagari, and the fire service areas within Lakshmipur municipal jurisdiction.

Conservation Inspector Faiz Ahmed said that the municipality is unable to dispose of any new waste until the old waste is removed from the dumping station area. 

Md Anwar Hossain and Sumon Das, residents of Lakshmipur city, said that the municipality is taking waste from the residents' houses for Tk100 per month and leaving them here and there in the city. 

Earlier, Lakshmipur municipality resorted to filling a pond by dumping garbage into it, located near a densely populated area and a school in Ward No. 15. In response, students of South Dargabari Government Primary School initiated a protest by blocking the road, leading to a temporary cessation of littering in that area.

Lakshmipur Municipality Mayor Mozammel Haider Masum Bhuiyan could not be reached for a comment as he was travelling abroad. However, Conservation Inspector Faiz Ahmad and Sanitary Officer Md Abdullah Hill Hakeem mentioned that due to space constraints, they are compelled to carry out garbage sorting in populated areas. They also mentioned that the Prime Minister has approved the establishment of another modern dumping plant to address waste management issues in Lakshmipur municipality.

Brahmanbaria municipality overwhelmed with 150 tonnes of waste a day 

An average of 150 tonnes of waste is produced in the Brahmanbaria municipality every day. However, authorities said they can remove only 110 tonnes due to lack of space at the dumping station. 

Waste management of this century-old city has yet to be modernised. The waste here is traditionally piled onto the sides of the roads. Besides, the waste is also dumped in the town canal and the Titas River. 

Around 110 tonnes of waste, including medical and plastic waste, are dumped daily in this 1.3 acre dumping station. Medical and plastic waste are dumped alongside other waste because there is a lack of recycling facilities. As the space inside the dumping station is limited, the waste is dumped in 38 places along the Cumilla-Sylhet highway in the Udshiura area of ​the sadar upazila.

Of the dumped waste, compost is made from 10 tonnes every day, according to the authorities. According to standards set under the solid waste management rules, compost must be made from waste that is brown to black in colour, non-granular, does not have any foul odour; and the final compost should have a Ph of 6.0-8.5. However, it was not clear if they followed these regulations. 

A project to generate 11MW of electricity from waste at the municipal dumping station was undertaken but has not yet been implemented because approval has not yet been obtained from the energy ministry.

Sub-Assistant Engineer Suman Dutta, the officer responsible for waste management of Brahmanbaria Municipality, said, "We cannot remove all the waste every day due to lack of space. There will be no more space in the dumping station in two years. However, if the power plant starts working in the meantime, the problem could be solved."

Rajshahi's waste end up in Barnai and Padma Rivers

The waste generated in Rajshahi City Corporation, an area of ​​96.72 square kilometres, is dumped in the City Haat area on the outskirts of the city. And the liquid waste produced daily falls into the Barnai River and Padma River through drains, without any kind of purification.

Waste from the houses of 30 wards of the city is deposited at the city's secondary transfer station or STS. Besides, the waste generated from the markets is also dumped in the STS. In summer, around 450 tonnes and 350 tonnes of waste are produced in winter. All the waste collected at 21 STS points in the city are later dumped on the outskirts of the city, at the dumping yard next to the City Haat of Pobar upazila. 

Rajshahi City Corporation Deputy Chief Cleaning Officer Salim Reza Ranju said that the local government and engineering department will construct a waste treatment plant at a cost of Tk200 crore at the dumping yard of City Haat. A feasibility study has already been done.

Through this waste treatment plant, gas and fertiliser will be produced from dry waste. Besides, liquid waste will also be treated through an ETP and discharged into the Barnai river so that farmers can use that water for irrigation of agricultural land, he said.

Bogura's dumping stations shut 

Bogura municipality, the largest in the country by area, is home to about 1 million people and produces at least 250 tonnes of garbage every day. But the municipality lacks a modern waste management system. 

One of its two dumping stations is in the Jaipur neighbourhood of Bogura. The other is outside the city of Erulia. Both stations are closed. Due to this, the wastes are being dumped in the lower areas of the city. 

Waste from many areas is falling directly into the Karatoa River that flows through the heart of the city. When we recently visited, we saw some of the transfer stations having sheds, but they were open. The cleaners bring garbage in mobile dustbins and throw it in front of the station. The waste mostly falls on the road.

Mehdi Hasan, a grocery shopkeeper near the transfer station in the Shibbati area, said that his shop used to be where garbage is being dumped now. So, he moved his store, but the stench still makes it to his shop. 

Ziaur Rahman, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan (Bapa) Bogura branch, said that since the waste is left in the open, it is mixing with river water and soil, and causing air pollution. 

Bogura Poura Nirbahi Officer Shajahan Alam admitted the problem of waste management, which he blamed on the lack of manpower and the absence of larger waste management projects. 

Tonnes of garbage dumped daily on the Kirtinasha River bank 

Even though Shariatpur municipality is an A-category municipality, a proper waste disposal system has not been developed there yet. Although there are dustbins in some parts of the city, there is no specific place to dump the garbage. As a result, this waste is thrown everywhere. All the canals around the markets are now filled with dirt. Shopkeepers and even municipal cleaners are throwing this waste into canals.

Municipal cleaners take the collected garbage in vans into the canal next to the market. The shopkeepers of the market and the people of the neighbouring residential areas also leave their waste in the canal. Some garbage from the city is taken by trucks to an open place on the banks of the Kirtinasha River in the Kotapara area. 

Shariatpur Municipality Conservancy Inspector Abdul Quddus Pahar said that around seven to eight tonnes of garbage is disposed of on the banks of the Kirtinasha River near the municipal area every year. 

Mayor Parvez Rahman said they have bought a permanent place for waste disposal. 

"This problem will be solved soon," he said. 

Savar's waste dumped on highways and canals 

As there is no designated landfill or dumping station for waste management in Savar, most of the waste outside the municipal area is dumped everywhere in nearby rivers and canals, or piled up onto the side of roads and highways. It includes everything from plastic and polythene to household waste, as well as many hazardous wastes.

Savar municipal authority used to dump the waste in the Bangshi River, and waste was also piled up on the side of the Dhaka-Aricha highway and adjacent to the Karnpara canal. However, in the face of widespread criticism, the municipal authorities have stopped dumping waste in the river.

The local authority or union parishads have not taken any steps to implement the Solid Waste Management Rules 2021. According to the rule, the local authority should place three separate bins to throw household hazardous wastes. But this rule is not implemented here. In fact they have not arranged any awareness-building campaigns for the people. 

Riazuddin, the conservancy inspector of the municipality, said that more than 30,000 houses and more than 100 factories under the Savar municipal area produce an average of 200 tonnes of waste every day. 

When contacted, Dhaka District Administration Deputy Director (Local Government) Farzana Zaman told The Business Standard, "I have just joined here a few days ago. I don't know Savar's picture yet. I can comment on it after I have enough information."

Sana Ullah Sanu from Lakshmipur, Azizul Shonchay from Brahmanbaria, Bulbul Habib from Rajshahi, Khorshed Alam from Bogura, Kazi Monirujjaman Monir from Shariatpur, and Noman Mahmud from Savar contributed to this story.