Waste Management System of Metropolitan Cities of Bangladesh

Introduction: Urban waste management is considered to be one of the most serious environmental problems confronting urban areas in Bangladesh. At present there are 522 urban centers in the country including 254 municipalities and 6 City Corporations (BBS, 1997 and NILG, 2002). With over 3.3% annual growth in urban population in Bangladesh during 1991-2001 census years, solid waste generation has also increased proportionately with the growth of urban population. As such, most of the urban local bodies are finding it difficult to keep pace with the demand for adequate waste management and conservancy services provided by the urban local bodies. Consequently, a backlog between demand and supply for waste management in most of the urban local bodies is created. Lack of financial resources, institutional weakness improper choice of technology and lack of public awareness about waste management has rendered waste management services far from satisfactory.

Solid Waste Generation in Urban Areas of Bangladesh

Comprehensive waste characterization studies have not been conducted in Bangladesh. In addition none of waste disposal sites in the country is equipped with weighbridge. However, recently Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) at its waste disposal site has installed a weighbridge to measure the amount of waste being disposed. Consequently, there is limited reliable information related to quantity of wastes generated in the urban areas of Bangladesh. Due to lack of information, estimates were made of the amount of waste generated. The estimates were based on the information available from other countries and cities having similar socio-economic condition to those prevalent in Bangladesh. Solid waste generation in Bangladesh is growing proportionately with the growth of urban population. Table shows the growth in solid waste generation over the years. Total Urban Population 20872204 28808477 32765152 78440000 Urban Population (%) Total 20.15 23.39 25.08 40.0 Waste Rate (kg/cap/day) 0.49** 0.5*** 0.5*** 0.6 ** Total Waste Generation (Tonne/day) 9873.5 11,695 16,382 47,064

Year 1991 2001 2004 2025

** Source: ADBI and ADB, 2000, Zurbrugg 2002,

It is evident form the above Table that solid waste generation in urban areas in Bangladesh is

growing with the growth of population as well as per capita GNP. In 1991 the per capita GNP was US $ 213 (World Bank, 1997) while the GNP in 2001 was US $ 351 per capita and in 2003 it was US $ 370 ( Zurbrugg, 2002).

Institutional Arrangement for Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh

Presently, the solid waste management system in Bangladesh is not well organized. However, efforts are under way to improve the organizational structure for solid waste management in different cities/towns. For instance, Dhaka City Corporation has recently established a Solid Waste Management Cell to improve the waste management services in the city. In most of the city corporations and municipalities there is no separate department for solid waste management. Solid waste management is organized and run by conservancy section of the urban local bodies, whose prime responsibility is maintenance of the sanitation system. Generally in most of the urban local bodies have insufficient number of staff involved in waste management activities. In addition to the shortage of personnel, the staffs are handicapped with relatively small amount of resources available to them for management of solid waste in their particular area of operation. Organizational Structure of Conservancy Section in Urban Local Bodies in Bangladesh

Legal Framework for Solid Waste Management

At present there is no separate policy or handling rules for solid waste management in Bangladesh. However, Ministry of Environment and Forest is currently preparing a comprehensive solid waste management handling rules for the country. The existing legal

aspects relating to solid waste management can be classified into two groups, which are given below:

National Level Framework

Environment Conservation Act, 1995 requires that before establishment of industrial enterprise as well as undertaking of projects environmental aspects must be given due consideration and prior environmental clearance is obtained. As such, for the purpose of environmental clearance, the Environment Conservation Rules 1997 made under the Act have divided industries and projects into four categories depending upon the pollution load and likely impact on the environment. These categories are: 1) Green, 2) Orange-A, 3) Orange-B and 4) Red. Applicants for environmental clearance for new industries and projects under the Orange-B and Red categories are required to submit an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) Report and the design of the effluent treatment plant (ETP). An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has to be undertaken and the EIA report to be approved by the Department of Environment (DOE) before installation or import of equipment for any industry or project under Red category. Prior to commissioning of projects falling under orange-B and red category, final clearance from DOE is required. All municipal land fill sites as well as installation of any kind of incinerators fall within red category and environmental clearance from DOE is mandatory. Apart from Environment Conservation Rules 1997, to improve the waste disposal system the Government has recently formulated some policies and plans, which are: National Environmental Management Action Plan (NEMAP) has been prepared for a 10-year period (1995-2005), by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) of the Government of Bangladesh in consultation with people from all walks of life. NEMAP has identified key environmental issues and recommended measures to conserve, improve and reduce environmental degradation, promote sustainable development and generally raise the quality of human life. NEMAP has recommended for actions in the areas of sanitation, solid waste management, water supply and environmental awareness etc. Based on the findings and recommendations of NEMAP, the government has taken up projects like community-based water supply and sanitation, community based solid waste management and community based wastewater treatment (GoB, 1995). Urban Management Policy Statement, 1998, prepared by the Government of Bangladesh has clearly recommended the municipalities for privatization of services as well as giving priority to facilities for slum dwellers including provision of water supply, sanitation and solid waste disposal. The policy considers the interest of providing economic, efficient and reliable services; municipalities shall endeavor to contract out solid waste disposal, public sanitation, drain cleaning and road maintenance (GoB, 1998a). National Policy for Water Supply and Sanitation 1998 prepared by the Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development & Cooperatives gives special emphasis on participation of private sector and NGOs in water supply and sanitation in urban areas. Some solid waste and recycling related strategies under this policy are given below: Local Government Bodies (City Corporations and municipalities) may transfer, where feasible collection, removal and management of solid waste to the private sector. Measures to be taken to recycle the waste as much as possible and promote use of organic waste materials for compost and bio-gas production Private sector including NGO participation in sanitation is encouraged (GoB, 1998b). National Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Strategy 2004 prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has identified waste sector as one of the potential sectors for attracting CDM finance in the country. CDM allows foreign direct investment (FDI) in projects, which reduces green house gas emissions. The waste sector options prevent methane from biomethanation processes. The methane collected can be flared or used to generate electricity. The waste sector options for Bangladesh can be landfill gas recovery, composting, poultry waste, and human excreta management using eco-sanitation and wastewater treatment.

Local Level Legal Framework

There is no adequate legislation in the country to address the growing problems of solid waste. In Bangladesh, solid waste management is entrusted with urban local government bodies. The

responsibility of removal and disposal of municipal solid waste lies with the City Corporations and municipalities. The six City Corporation Ordinances and Pourshava Ordinance 1977 are the only local law that gives some idea about disposal of municipal waste. These ordinances contain identical provisions relating to solid waste management, which are as follows: The pourshava or city corporation shall be responsible for sanitation of the municipality/city corporation area and for the control of environmental pollution. For this purpose the city corporation or poursahava may cause such measures to be taken as are required by the ordinances. A pourashava or city corporation shall make adequate arrangements for removal of refuse from all public streets, public latrines, urinals, drains, and all buildings and land vested in the pourshava or city corporation and for collection and proper disposal of such waste. Subject to the general control and supervision of the pourashava/city corporation, the occupiers of all other buildings and land shall be responsible for removal of refuse from such buildings and lands. The poursahava/city corporation may, and if so required by the governments shall provide public bins or other receptacles at suitable places and by public notice, require that all refuse accumulating in any premise or land shall be deposited by the owner or occupier of such premises or land in designated bins or receptacles. All refuse removed and collected by staff of pourashava/city corporation or under their control and supervision and all refuse deposited in the bins and other receptacles provided by the poursahava/city corporation shall be the property of the pourashava/city corporation. A pourashava/city corporation shall provide adequate public drains in the municipality/city area and all such drains shall be constructed, maintained, kept cleared, and emptied with due regard to health and convenience of the public.

Technologies/ Methods Used for Waste Recycling, Treatment and Disposal

Waste disposal is an emerging problem in almost all urban areas of Bangladesh. The increase in waste generation can be primarily attributed to factors such as rapid rate of urbanization, ruralurban migration, changing consumption pattern and high population growth rate. While the magnitude of the problem is relatively small and manageable in rural areas, it appears to be growing significantly in urban areas in recent times. Among the major environmental concerns confronted today in the urban areas of Bangladesh are problems relating to proper management of solid waste. There is no single solution to improve solid waste management system in any city. It must be based on integrated systems with a combination of different methods. There should not be any contradiction between different methods; instead they should be complimenting each other. Sophisticated technologies are beyond the capacity of small and medium towns of Bangladesh. The local authorities spend 5-20% of their total annual budget to collect, transport and dispose waste. Approximately 50% of this budget is being collected as revenue and the rest comes as grant from the national government. Presently, a number of commendable steps have been taken by the government to promote low cost, appropriate decentralized community based composting technology based on socioeconomic and climatic condition of the country.

Existing Practice of Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh

Approximately 16,380 of tons of waste is generated in the urban areas of Bangladesh in the year 2004. The waste is generated from different source (domestic, commercial, industrial, street sweeping, health care facilities etc.). 3 (three) systems of waste management are coexisting side by side in Bangladesh. One is the `Formal System, where municipalities/city corporations are responsible for Solid Waste Management (SWM). Formal system is based on the conventional system of collectiontransportationdisposal of waste carried out by the local authorities. In this system the concept of transfer stations, resource recovery, minimization and recycling are absent. Next is the `Community Initiative that is based on primary solid waste collection by CBOs and NGOs, `Community Initiatives of house-to-house waste collection in neighborhood started due to lack of satisfaction with solid waste management service. Finally, `Informal System represented by the large informal labor force involved in the solid waste recycling trade chain. Figure 2 shows the existing system of solid waste management in the urban areas of Bangladesh. Partnership between these three systems is needed to promote effective solid waste management system in the country.

6.2 Physical Composition of Solid Waste

The composition and resulting character of municipal solid waste are always dependent on the source of its generation. Each city has a unique blend of activities and resulting waste characteristics. Experience shows that approximately 60% of waste is generated by residential areas of Bangladesh.

In urban areas of Bangladesh solid waste has a very high organic content that varies from 7085%. Table 3 shows that solid waste of Dhaka City has also similar amount of organic matters High moisture and organic content coupled with high prevailing temperatures make frequent removals necessary to avoid bad smell due to rapid decomposition of waste. This places additional burden on already overstrained system. Solid waste, at the point of collection, has a high density. Density will increase as the waste is handled, through loading, transport in carts and vehicles, and eventually by compaction with landfill equipment at a disposal site. Density of waste at the pick-up point ranges from 390 to 540 kg/cubic meter. Table 3:Composition of Waste of Dhaka City Waste Composition Food and vegetable wastes Paper Products Plastics Rags Metals Glass and ceramics Wood Garden Waste Other (stones, dirt etc.) Moisture Bangladesh (Dhaka) (% by weight) 70 4 5 0.13 0.25 0.16 11 5 65

Source: Ahmed, M.F. and Rahman, M.M. 2000 Composition of solid waste shown in the table clearly demonstrate that a major portion of waste of Dhaka city is organic with high moisture content which is suitable for the production of compost fertilizer.

6.3 Technology Used to Manage Urban Solid Waste

Traditional labor-intensive methods are used for solid waste management in Bangladesh. Due to lack of specific guidelines to manage waste in the country, official initiatives to promote segregation of waste at the source is absent. Waste is simply collected from the designated communal dustbins and demountable containers, transported by open 1.5-5 ton capacity trucks, demountable containers, tractors and trailers and disposed in a crude unsanitary way in nearby low-lying areas of the cities/ towns. Collection system is inadequate and involves 4 or 5 times of handling of a particular waste before it is finally disposed at an open dumping site. The waste collection system relies on communal containers located along the roadsides. Some of these containers are stationary concrete bins that are to be entered by workers, who shovel the waste into baskets for manual loading into open trucks. Other containers are demountable that are mechanically loaded by demountable trucks. The premises of this system are that resident will walk to the nearest bin with their waste and put it inside. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. Many residents dump their waste on the ground near the site at increasing distance from the bin as the amount of waste increases throughout the day, loath to walk over any waste to get to the bin. Waste recyclers further complicate the situation by going through the waste for recyclables and scattering it further. Collection coverage of waste is inefficient and as a result 35%-50% of waste remains uncollected in the urban areas of Bangladesh. Uncollected waste accumulate on open lands, are piled along streets, fill drains and clog sewers. Given countrys subtropical monsoon climate these uncollected wastes provide ample habitat for flies, cockroaches, rats and other disease vectors. The stagnant water in the clogged drains provides breeding ground for

mosquitoes; during flooding the health consequences become enormous. Recently due to infrequent collection of waste from the communal bins some communities took the initiative to start house-to-house collection of waste from their neighborhoods in several small and large cities of Bangladesh. Under this initiative people pay for house-to-house waste collection service. Local communities, CBOs NGOs and micro-enterprises are initiating these house-to-house waste collection schemes. In 1987, a local resident initiated the first house-to-house collection scheme in a residential area of Dhaka city. These initiatives are creating new employment opportunity for the urban poor. This concept being simple and is becoming popular to the people of the city. Problem of uncollected waste in urban areas is most prevalent in low-income neighborhoods, where 20% to 50% of the urban dwellers live. Middle-income and high-income neighborhoods tend to take matters into their own hands, hiring their own neighborhood waste collectors and covering the necessary costs. Toxic and hazardous waste from different sources ends up in the communal bins. There is no separate collection system for these wastes in the city causing health risk for the city as a whole. Due to scarcity of land in large cities local authorities have been resorting to the practice of dumping garbage at certain selected locations without any consideration to the adverse effects of such dumping.

Figure 3: Demountable container in Khulna city Figure 4: Crude Dumping site in Dhaka city

7. Recycling and Composting

Approximately 1,20,000 people are involved with the recycling occupation in Dhaka city. Similar recycling activities are also prevailing in other cities and towns of the country. The poor socially disadvantaged people informal sector are primarily involved with waste recovery and recycling practice in the country. Their recycling activity is reducing a significant volume of waste which otherwise would have to be collected by the local authorities. Almost 15 percent (i.e., more than 467.65 tons) inorganic fraction of the waste is recycled in Dhaka city (Sinha, 1993). Wastes having economic value in the market are reclaimed and salvaged in different stages by informal sector. They separate refuse of higher market values such as paper, bottles, fresh containers, old cloths, shoes etc. and sell them to feriwallas/ itinerant buyers. Waste pickers mostly women, children of slums popularly known as Tokai, collect waste of low market values from waste bins. These

items include broken glass, tin cans cardboard, waste papers, rags, plastics, metals and miscellaneous commercial waste discarded by households. Another group of waste pickers collects recyclable from the unloaded municipal trucks at the final disposal sites. The material collected from waste bins, sweeping accumulation and disposal sites require intermediate processing like washing drying and sorting. The refuse dealers separate the recyclables in proper form and sell them to consumers as well as supply them to appropriate processing small and large manufacturers. Although Tokais extract most of the readily available material from the waste stream, still there remains considerable value in what they leave behind. This value lies in the organic portion of the solid waste, which constitute about 70-80% of the total generated waste, having considerable potential value, if converted into compost through composting. From the perspective of municipality, organic waste recycling through composting not only reduces disposal costs and prolongs the life span of disposal sites, but it also reduces adverse environmental impacts caused by landfill sites, as the organics are mainly responsible for leachate contamination and methane problems. Recycling and returning of organic waste to the soil would significantly contribute to enhancing the sustainability of the urban area. Involving the population in the use of compost promotes awareness of waste resource recovery while composting activities, creates employment and generate income for them. Experience has shown that in developing countries large centralized and highly mechanized composting plants have often failed to reach their target and had soon to be abandoned due to high operational, transport and maintenance costs. In many cases small-scale decentralized community based composting plants have been considered as a suitable option for treating municipal solid waste as they reduce transport costs, make use of low-cost technologies, based mainly on manual labor, and minimize problems and difficulties encountered with backyard composting. Waste Concerns experience shows community based decentralized approach to convert waste into resource/ compost/ recyclables with active public-private and community partnership is possible in the country. Government along with NGOs, CBOs and private sectors have taken the initiative to replicate Waste Concerns model of community based approach in 38 communities of 20 cities and another 28 cities are in the pipe line for replication. Recently using Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol Waste Concern along with WWR (a Dutch company) took an initiative for a 700 tons/ day capacity composting plant and land fill gas recovery project at the Matuail landfill site of Dhaka city. Table 4: Technology/ Method Used to Manage Urban Solid Waste: Figure 5: Recycling of inorganic waste by informal sector at the dumpsite of Dhaka city

Activity
Source Reduction

Status in Bangladesh
No official initiatives from the Government Reuse and recycling is done informally by informal sector. Segregation of recyclable waste with economic value (such as newspaper, bottles, cans, glass, plastic, metal, rubber and different containers etc.) is done at source by people and sold to buyers. Soiled recyclables materials from the source of waste, dustbins and dumpsites are retrieved by waste pickers for their survival.

Collection

No provision storage exists at or near the point of source of waste Waste is collected in the following ways: Community bin System (brick, concrete or corrugated iron sheet); Demountable Containers; House-to-House Collection system Designated Open Spaces

Transportation

Conventional open trucks, demountable containers and tractors and trailers for the collection of waste. No provision of transfer stations to transfer waste from the smaller collection vehicle to larger transport. Multiple handling of waste exists. Waste mixed with contaminated/ infectious substance Transportation does not synchronize with the capacity of collection points.

Recycling

Most recycling is done through the informal sector and waste picking. Mainly localized market and imports of materials for recycling. Presently local government bodies are replicating Waste Concerns model of community based composting in a number of cities Recently using Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol Waste Concern along with WWR (a Dutch company) took an initiative for a 700 tons/ day capacity composting plant and land fill gas recovery project at the Matuail landfill site of Dhaka city.

Incineration

Not common or successful because of high capital and operation costs, high moisture content and low calorific value of waste makes waste not viable for incineration. At present few incinerators are used to manage health care related waste in a number of town and cities. Usually open crude dumping is adopted. This system is most unhygienic and inefficient. Causing problem to health and environment Hospital waste, toxic waste and untreated industrial waste are also disposed of at the municipal landfill.

Land filling

Costs

5-20% of annual municipal budget is used for Solid Waste Management

7.1 Problems of Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh

The main problems and drawbacks of solid waste management in the urban areas of Bangladesh are as follows:

Absence of national policy to encourage recycling practice; Lack of proper handling rules and standard; Lack of proper institutional setup in the local bodies to manage solid waste properly; Lack of finance, and inefficient tax collection; Lack of manpower and infrastructure; Incomplete and inefficient waste collection practice; Lack of access to municipal solid waste service by huge population; Shortage of suitable lands for final disposal of solid waste;

Lack of public awareness about the health and environmental problems associated with the solid wastes. and Lack of partnership between the public sector, private sectors, community people and NGOs and CBOs.

Best Practice

8.1

Decentralized Community Based Composting in Dhaka by Through PublicPrivate-Community Partnerships

In an attempt to recover the value from organic portion of waste, a research based organization, Waste Concern, initiated a community based decentralized composting project in Dhaka city in 1995. The prime goal of this project was to explore technical and commercial feasibility of laborintensive aerobic decentralized composting technique and to promote the principle of 4Rs (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, and Recovery of waste) in urban areas of Bangladesh. Activities under the project included house-to-house waste collection, composting of the collected waste in a decentralized manner, and marketing of compost and recyclables. The innovative approach and success of Waste Concern encouraged the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) of the Government of Bangladesh to select the Waste Concern as a subimplementing agency for the project Community Based Urban Solid Waste Management in Dhaka with support from UNDP. Launched in September 1998, Waste Concern is implementing their community-based program of waste management in 5 areas of Dhaka city through partnership development with government agencies, private sector, and community groups. In 1999, partnership agreement was signed between public agencies (Public Works Department and Dhaka City Corporation), private sector (Map Agro) and Waste Concern to implement the project. The Public Works Department (PWD), Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and Waste Concern have a formal partnership agreement to implement the project.

Waste Concern mediates with DCC and other government agencies to provide land and logistical support to implement the program as well as with the private sector to market the recyclables and compost. PWD and DCC have given Waste Concern permission to use their land and have provided other logistical support such as water and electricity connections to establish communitybased composting plants. Waste Concern provides capacity building and technical assistance by forming waste management committees called "green force" establishing small-scale composting units (1-5 tons per day capacity) and training communities to manage, operates, and maintains the services. Waste Concern mobilizes the community and forms community groups and organizes training programs. Selected community membersmostly womenundergo hands-on training in

waste separation, collection, composting, and marketing of recyclable material and compost. A good market for compost exists in Bangladesh. Waste Concern helps the communities sell their compost to a number of outlets such as fertilizer-marketing companies and nurseries. Waste Concern has been selling its compost for $0.05-0.09 per kg and recently signed a partnership agreement with the private company Map Agro Ltd. to sell compost to Agro at $0.05 per kg. Recently, Map Agro requested Waste Concern to install more community-based compost plants to meet the growing demand for enriched compost. Waste Concern's model relies on community mobilization and capacity building to manage waste and ensure sustainability of the project. After a year of community mobilization and training, Waste Concern hands over the project to the community but continues to monitor it for 3 years. The community-based decentralized composting program, integrated with door-to-door collection of solid waste, can yield appreciable savings for municipal authorities. Waste Concern's model shows that only 15% of total waste has to be transported to the landfill site by having decentralized community based composting plants. The program has significantly cleaned up communities, created jobs for the urban poor, reduced DCC's waste management costs, and created business opportunities for entrepreneurs. The project has become a model, which several city governments and NGOs are trying to replicate. Till August 2004, twenty cities/ towns in Bangladesh have replicated the model in 38 communities.

Figure 6: Community Based Compost Plant of Waste Concern at Dhaka

8.2 Barrel Type Composting Project for the Urban Poor

Successful result of community based composting model helped Waste Concern to realize that a large portion of population residing in the slums of Dhaka city cannot be covered with the model of

community based composting approach. A large group of urban poor are not included in the existing model. Almost 30% of the city population is residing in the slum with poor water, drainage, health and waste situation. As they are illegally occupying land and not paying tax, the city authorities are usually reluctant to serve these people. Uncollected waste inside and outside the slums is nuisance and health hazard for the slum dwellers as well as for the whole city. In order to solve this problem Waste Concern came up with an idea of linking waste with income. The Barrel Type Composting model invented by the SEVANATHA, Sri Lanka inspired Waste Concern to implement the concept in the slums of Dhaka. With some modification and changes Waste Concern with the support from Local Initiatives Facility for Environment (LIFE) of UNDP launched the barrel types composting units in two slums of Dhaka. Later after successful results, this concept is being replicated in a number of slums of Dhaka as well as other cities of Bangladesh. The idea is simple; a specially designed 200 liter bottomless perforated green barrel with a lid was supplied to the slum. One green barrel is provided to a group of six households and placed on a raised base with concrete ring. The cost of each specially designed barrel along with the civil work was around TK. 1800 (US $ 30). The slum dwellers were imparted with training and motivated to dispose their kitchen waste into the green barrel. Waste decomposed aerobically into compost in three months time period. Generally, in low-income settlements major portion of the waste generated is biodegradable. Slum dwellers are motivated to dispose their inorganic waste in the yellow barrel provided by WC, which is subsequently carried to nearby DCC dustbins, for final disposal. It was found that from a one 200 liter barrel, compost worth between Tk. 900-1000 could be produced each year. The households sharing the barrel can also share the income from sale proceeds of the compost. This model is successful in achieving a behavioral change by minimizing littering of waste in the slum. The slum dwellers are quite enthusiastic about the project as they are seeing the benefits of clean environment, health benefit and earning extra income from their waste, which was previously creating pollution and nuisance in their slum. This model of barrel type composting demonstrates how slum people can improve their environment and health along with economic benefits.

Figure 7: Barrel Type Composting System inFigure 8: Sectional view of Barrel Type Composting Slum

and squatters Settlements System

9. Recent Development Regarding Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh

There have been several positive developments in the country to improve the solid waste management situation in the urban areas of Bangladesh over the last few years, which are as follows:

Dhaka City Corporation with support from the JICA is preparing a master plan for the solid waste management of Dhaka city. Two projects on landfill gas recovery along with height increase of Matuail landfill site of Dhaka and establishment of 700 tons/day capacity composting plant has been approved by the National CDM Board of the government. This project will be implemented shortly by private sector using CDM financing and public-private partnership approach.

UNICEF along with 14 city corporations and municipalities and Department of Public Health Engineering have been implementing community based composting projects and barrel type composting. Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) with support form ADB has taken initiative to prepare Solid Waste Management Plan for eight secondary towns of Bangladesh. UNICEF is also initiated a project to establish Recycling Centers in 24 city corporations/municipalities as well as preparation of solid waste management plan. `Urban Solid Management Handling Rules of Bangladesh is being prepared under the Sustainable Environment Management Program (SEMP), which is implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and supported by UNDP. `Bio-medical Waste Handling Rules is also being prepared under SEMP.

10. Future Programs to Improve Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh

In order to improve solid waste management in the urban areas of Bangladesh following issues should be considered:

Promotion of source-separation of waste. Tax incentive for use and production of recycled product Promotion of public-private-community partnerships Promotion of recycling/ composting/ no-burn technology and less land filling of waste

Promotion of more waste related projects using Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) opportunity.

REFERENCES
Ahmed, M.F. and Rahman, M.M. 2000. Water Supply and Sanitation: Rural and Low Income Urban Communities. Dhaka: ITN-Bangladesh. Asian Development Bank and ADB Institute (2000). Partnerships for Better Municipal Management. Manila: ADB, Philippines. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). 1993. Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh. Dhaka: Statistical Division, Ministry of Planning Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). 1997. Bangladesh Population Census 1991, Urban Area Report. Dhaka: Statistics Division, Ministry of Planning, and Government of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). 1998. Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh. Dhaka: Statistics Division, Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). 2000. Report of the Urban Poverty Monitoring Survey April 1998. Dhaka: Statistics Division, Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) 2001. Population Census 2001, Preliminary Report Dhaka: Statistical Division, Ministry of Planning. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). 2002. Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh. Dhaka: Statistics Division, Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh. Enayetullah, I. 1995. A Study of Solid Waste Management for Environmental Improvement of Dhaka City. an unpublished Master of Urban & Regional Planning Thesis, Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka. Government of Bangladesh and United Nations Development Program. 1994. Bangladesh Urban Sector National Program Document. Dhaka. Government of Bangladesh, 1995. National Environmental Management Action Plan Final Report. Dhaka: Ministry of Environment and Forest. Government of Bangladesh.1998a. National Policy for Water Supply and Sanitation 1998. Dhaka: Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives. Government of Bangladesh.1998b. Urban Management Policy Statement. Dhaka: Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives. Government of Bangladesh and Asian Development Bank, 1996. Urban Poverty Reduction Project, Final Report. prepared by International Development Support Services, Bangladesh Consultants Limited and Proshika. Government of Bangladesh and Asian Development Bank, 2000. Urban Sector Strategy Final Report. Philippines: ADB Lizin, A. M. 2002. City-to-City Networking to Fight Poverty published in the Choices Magazine,

September, 2002, New York: UNDP National Institute of Local Government and Local Government Engineering Department (2002). Poursahava Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh 1998-99, NILG: Dhaka. Sinha, A.H. M.M. 1993. The Formal and Informal Sector Linkages in Waste Recycling A Case of Solid Waste Management in Dhaka City. an unpublished M.Sc. Thesis, Human Settlement, Asian Institute Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand. Sinha, A.H.M.M. and Enayetullah, I. 2000. Study on Resource Recovery from Solid Waste in Khulna City. Dhaka: Water and Sanitation Program South Asia. United Nations.1992. Innovative Approaches to Municipal Environmental Management. Citynet publication prepared with support from UNDP, New York World Bank, 1998. Sectoral Analysis: Solid Waste Management. Washington D.C.: The World Bank. World Bank, 1999. Towards an Urban Strategy for Bangladesh. Dhaka: The World Bank World Bank.2000. Urban Development Strategy and City Assistance Program in South Asia (Bangladesh). prepared by ALMEC Corporation, Pacific Consultants International and Nikken Sekkei Limited, Dhaka: The World Bank. Zurbrgg,C.( 2002). Urban Solid Waste Management in Low-Income Countries of Asia How to Cope with the Garbage Crisis paper presented for: Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)Urban Solid Waste Management Review Session, Durban, South Africa, November 2002.

Willingness to Pay for Community-based Solid Waste Management and its sustainability in Bangladesh
Md. Salequzzaman , Sadiqul Awal and Mostafa Alam
a b a c

Assistant Professor, Environmental Science Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh & Ph.D. Candidate and Researcher, Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy (ISTP), Murdoch University, Perth, WA 6150, Australia, Tel. +61 8 9360 2775, Fax. +61 9360 6421, e-mail: salek@central.murdoch.edu.au / msalequzzaman@hotmail.com. Assistant Professor, Fisheries and Marine Resource Technology (FMRT) Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh & Ph.D. Candidate, Melbourne University, Melbourne, Australia.
b c

Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Agriculture, Latrobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia. Abstract Bangladesh is now faced a huge number of growing unmanageable population bomb and a significant number of the population is migrated from rural to urban cities each year. This migration is creating unplanned urbanisation and slum development that produces a lot of unmanageable quantities of solid waste in all major cities of Bangladesh. This process needs proper solid waste dumping places with associated facilities and strict implementation of rules and regulations. However, the sustainability of this process depends on awareness and motivation programs, and willingness to pay for community-based solid waste management with proper monitoring and management by concerned authority. Practically, the authorities of all metropolitan cities are failed to manage the solid waste of this increasing population, mainly because of shortage of financial support and lack of willingness to practice for overall sustainable solid waste management policies. But, willingness to pay for community based solid waste management in some localised areas of some metropolitan cities are highly successful, mainly because of the application of sustainable environmental education (both for formal and informal education) to the sustainability of its management practices. Prodipan (a NGO) is a successful example of this willingness to pay story in Khulna City. The paper briefly discusses the present management practice, principles of the sustainability and sustainable management and a success story of Prodipan of the community-based sol id waste management in Bangladesh. Finally, the paper discusses how a sustainable management practice of solid waste is to be incorporated to the policy and planning processes, and implementing activities of all relevant organizations.

1.0 Introduction The increasing quantity of solid waste is a growing environmental problem in developing countries. As a typical developing country, Bangladesh is experienced with mushrooming factories, tanneries and industries in the industrial areas and other unconventional areas, are contributing a significant amount of solid waste (Salequzzaman et al. 1998). Moreover, as a densely populated country, Bangladesh is undergoing rapid urbanisation and a significant migration from rural to urban population. Resulting, the cities are suffering from a phenomenal rise in their population (Salequzzaman, 2000). Industrially developed countrys cities are produced huge droppings; despite

developing countries generate less solids waste per capita because of their less purchasing power and therefore less consumption (Cairncross and Feachem, 1993). But the total solid waste contribution from such a big population is huge enough to create environmental problem. As a result, piles of garbage accumulated everyday. These large volumes of solid waste are produced and constitute an enormous public health and environmental hazard in major cities in Bangladesh. The rapid growth of cities and increased migration of rural unemployed population is the result of unplanned slum development, which creates further problem of solid waste management. Solid waste management has so far been the most ignored and least studied in environmental sanitation in Bangladesh, like in most developing countries, but recently the concerned government and private agenc ies have begun to consider this area to be an inseparable component of improved public health (Dahi, 1996). Municipal solid waste disposal in Bangladesh capital City, Dhaka and other city corporation is being an unmanageable burden to the city managers. But ethically, proper waste management is most important task of the City Corporation for keeping the city clean and healthy. Limited waste disposal capacity of the urban authority makes the cumulative deposition of waste. According to available statistics , more than 3,000 tons of waste garbage are produced in Dhaka city/day, but Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) can picked up and dispose only 42% of its produced solid waste (Salequzzaman et al, 1998). Waste management in the city has been in a total mess as the city fathers are still not familiar with any modern waste management system, appearing to have taken a "devil-may care" approach to tackling the problem. In this situation, some innovative civic authorities of nongovernmental organisation (NGO) and the communities such as 'Prodipan' in Khulna and 'Waste concern' in Dhaka have been successful in developing participatory willingness to pay for communitybased solid waste management. These organizations have developed the capacity to tackle the growing amount of urban waste, reduction of waste-creating sources, reuse and recycling of useful items collected from the waste, and created a lot of job opportunities in local communities. Formal and informal environmental educations influence this community-based participatory solid waste management and have increased its sustainability for willingness to pay. This paper will discuss how community-based solid waste management could work on willingness to pay system and how it can generate income and create job opportunities by discussing the Prodipan success history. Finally, the paper discusses how a sustainable management practice of solid waste is to be incorporated to the policy and planning processes, and implementing activities of all relevant organizations. 2.0 Methodology and Approaches of the Study The main part of the study has been conducted in Khulna City Corporation (KCC) area during the whole year of 1998. Prodipan (a NGO of community-based solid waste management) has been chosen as a case study for this research. Questionnaire survey, interview, direct observation and literature review have conducted Prodipans research. However, the whole research of the paper has been conducted by review of regular daily newspapers, journals and reports since 1990 to 2000 regarding the solid waste management situation in Bangladesh. 3.0 Characteristics of Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh In urban Bangladesh, solid wastes are originated from residential houses, street sweeping, commercial, industrial and other sources. These includes dust, ash, vegetable and animal bones, putrescible matter, paper and packing of all kinds, rags and other torn fabrics, garment materials (wastes) glass and many other noncombustible debris. Hospital wastes includes used needles, syringes, injection-materials, plastic and other medicine pots. These wastes are often thrown into and / or dumped and piled up road corner dustbins, vacant spaces near markets, road intersections and other such areas. Sometimes, it remains piled up for days together allowing pew dogs to search rotten food and become a possible risk for transmitting deadly diseases like AIDS, Hepatitis B, viral, infections, contagious and microbial diseases. Most of times, the assigned places for throwing garbage on the dustbins or whatever in many places of the cities are seen remaining heaped high with garbage for days at a stretch (Pic. 1). Most of the time the carrying waste is dumped within the City surrounded by residential area. Despite assurances from time to time, garbage dumped sites within the City have not been moved to outside the city. Even the present sites are hardly looked after and the stench from these turns afoul the air of the

surrounding residential areas. People of these localities have been desperately seeking deliverance from the odour and the filthy sights (Pic. 2).

Pic.1: Garbage stockpiled in the urban city (a common practice in all urban cities of Bangladesh).

Pic.2: Dumping the solid waste and its effect in the residential area of Dhaka City. Recently, lots of hospital and clinic (both private and public) has developed with different industries (both has no effective solid waste disposal and management system) add this problem to extremely unhygienic situation to the surrounding environment. A survey of leading public hospitals in Dhaka City has revealed that

none of them has a planned system of waste disposal. According to rough estimates, there are over 200 small and medium private clinics and hospitals scattered across the Dhaka City (mostly in residential areas) which regularly discharge hazardous clinical wastes with least concern for public safety. On an average, each of these hospitals and clinics disposed of 10 to 20 kg of waste daily, among which a substantial amount consists of liquid and solid forms of clinical waste including used bandages, saline bags and syringes and even amputated limbs and blood clots (The New Nation, 04.04.2000). Some times, this unsafe dumping of hospital waste encourages recycling and trading in disposable syringes, used bags and bottles, which is totally illegal and unhygienic practice. Besides Bangladesh has no proper rules and implementation process on disposal and management of the residues of the sacrificial animals in a healthy and environment-friendly manner. Also the municipal authorities are inefficient and incapable, in doing the job properly. The ongoing practices only help to increase the pollution level of air, dust, bad odour and others. Traditionally, urban wastes including night soil had been collected through definite municipalitys truck from different point of urban areas and dump it to a far-depressed place/low land until it becomes filled up. After filled up, the municipal authority had been selected to another low land. But after 1980s, night soil collection had been stopped in most of the municipalities. Although the city corporation is still maintained a traditional refuse disposal system (Pic.3). But the truck comes to clear but with a part of the heap littering garbage on the roads all the way because most of the time, it travels without appropriate cover or lid. Garbage carrying trucks are used in daytime instead of nighttime, usually are jostling amid traffic-spreading bad smell and also littering the roads and lanes with their foul contents.

Pic.3: Solid waste collection system of municipality/City corporation in Bangladesh. 3.1 Recycling Processes of Solid Waste Management System in Bangladesh In this management system, solid wa ste like all kinds of papers, metals and glass with other valuables things including polythene / plastic bag have recycled and a group of people is engaged (locally called Tokai) to this profession for their income and daily life maintenance (Pic. 4). Polythene bags are extensively used in all over Bangladesh since mid of 1970s and it is now an important problem of urban sewerage systems. It is randomly thrown here and there and blockage of the sewerage system and loss of soil fertility.

Pic.4: Dumping spots for used polythene bags (picture taken from Lalbagh of old Dhaka). In general, wastes having some market value are being reclaimed or salvaged in three stages (fig. 1). In first stage, housewives separate refuse of higher market value such as papers, bottles, fresh containers, old clothes, shoes, etc. and sell them to street hawkers. In second stage, mostly children of slum dwellers Tokai carry out salvaging by collecting different items of low market value from waste collection bins. Scavengers at the final disposal sites do the third stage of salvaging when municipal trucks unload fresh refuse. The reclaimed materials reach the waste and old materials shop through street hawkers who purchase old materials directly from households and through solid waste collectors who reclaim the materials from bins and final disposal sites. These reclaimed materials require intermediate processing like washing, drying and sorting. The refuse dealers separate the materials in proper form and sell them to consumers as well as supply them to appropriate processing factories for reuse as raw materials.

Fig. 1: Solid Waste recycling system in Bangladesh.

3.2 The Quantity and Quality of Generated Solid Waste in Bangladesh The composition and volume of solid waste reflect living atmosphere of residents. This also varies from season to season, area to area, population characteristics, legislation and peoples attitude. It is estimated that per capita waste generation in Dhaka varies between 0.4 and 0.5 Kg/day. Whereas in Europe and North America, solid waste collection may be as much as 2.0 Kg/capita/day and in developing countries, it usually varies between 0.3 and

1.0 Kg/capita/day (Ahmed and Rahman, 2000). The estimates quantities are presented in table 1. Table 1 Estimated quantities of solid wastes generation (SWG) in Bangladesh in 1991.

Administrative Division in Bangladesh Rajshahi Barisal Khulna Dhaka Chittagong Sylhet Total

Population Million 2.213 0.466 1.609 5.966 2.619 0.255 13.128

Urban SWG Rate Kg/Cap/Day

SWG Ton/day

Population Million 25.287 7.291 11.634 27.974 19.250 6.892 98.328

Rural SWG Rate Kg/Cap/Day

SWG Ton/Day

Total SWG Ton/Da y 4900 1280 2550 7179 4198 1136 21243

0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.466

1107 186 805 2983 1310 102 6493

0.15 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.15

3793 1094 1745 4196 2888 1034 14750

Source Diaz et al., 1998. The composition of solid waste in Bangladesh includes organic food waste, paper and paper products, wood, metal, glass, plastics including hospital waste, construction waste, industrial waste, dust, firewood and others. According to Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) statistics, nearly 49% of the city's solid waste is generated from residential area, 21% and 24% from commercial and industrial area respectively, and the rest from hospitals and clinics. This figure is differed from different towns and from different areas in the same town. Table 2 summaries and compares typical composition of solid wastes from developing and industrialised countries. Table 2: Approximate composition of solid wastes (% by weight) in Bangladesh, compared with India and Europe.
Waste Components Food and vegetable wastes Paper products Plastics Rags Metals Glass and ceramics Wood Garden wastes Others (stones, dirt, etc.) Moisture content Bangladesh* 70 4 5 0.13 0.25 0.16 11 5 65 India 75 2 1 3 0.1 0.2 7 22~32 Europe 30 27 3 3 7 11 4~5 3 15~35

Source: Cairncross and Feachem, 1993; *IFRD and BCSIR, 1998. 3.3 Problems of Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh

0 Lack of Awareness and Environmental Education: Awareness is the key factor for success of any project. It is proved that Bangladesh has been received a very good result of family planning activities, only due to the effort 1 of awareness program. Although more than 50% population is illiterate, but various awareness programs have developed knowledge and skill of family planning know-how to more than 95% of the population in Banglade sh. But in the case of personal hygiene including solid waste management, this awareness program as well as various formal and informal environmental educations is still at primitive stage in Bangladesh. Urbanisation and Rapid Growth of Urban Population: In Bangladesh, migration of the rural poor to the urban areas has resulted in an unprecedented growth of urban areas and urban population during the last few decades. Ultimately, they are developing slum without any municipal facilities; as a result every town has reduced to virtual slum. Dhaka has been the largest recipient of these poor migrants. With unabated concentration of people in the urban areas of Bangladesh, use of material products is increasing by the day causing the nightmarish problems of waste management. Indeed, industrial backwardness and poor purchasing power of Bangladeshi people have, so far, helped in containing consumerism and material revolution in Bangladesh. But with the growing industrialisation and globalisation for the world market, the country Bangladesh is now also braced for an invading consumerism, with all its accompanying evils spoiling the environment. The early signs of a material revolution are already evident in Bangladesh cities and towns, particularly the over-crowded and huge urban centres like capital Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong and Khulna. Though the vast areas of Bangladesh countryside still remain unspoiled by the scourge of waste and toxic garbage. Thus the problem of wastes disposal and management in Bangladesh remains essentially an urban concern. Lack of Logistic Support and Trained Manpower in the Municipal/City Corporation. Lack of Technical Know-how. Corruption of Concerned Authority. Lack of Community Participation and Willingness to pay. 4.0 Community-based Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh Community-based management of services, backed by measures to strengthen local institutions in implementing and sustaining solid waste management programs, is one of the guiding principles in international declarations such as New Delhi Consultation in 1990 and reconfirmed in Agenda 21 (Ahmed and Rahman, 2000). Community-based management is an approach that seeks to make the best use resources available within the community with support from government or any NGO or organization. In communities or user groups, take on more tasks and responsibilities, relieving agencies of routine solid waste management and maintenance duties through an learning approach by promoting changes of prevailing attitude, behaviour, norms, skills and procedures. Nonavailability of land in urban areas is the biggest problem in

starting composting and recycling projects for waste management. Community based waste management, which includes recycling, and composting will greatly reduce the pressure on waste dumping grounds at urban cities. In this regard, some voluntary organizations have set up different projects (as follows) in urban cities of Bangladesh to dump/turn kitchen waste into organic fertiliser through community participation. 0 (I) A project of a Barrel Type Garbage Composting Project (BTGCP), located at Bhasamtek in Mirpur area of the Dhaka City is an example. The BTGPG has been set up by the initiative for propels Development (IPD) with financial help from Bangladesh Environment Network (BEN), an organization of overseas Bangladeshis. Half of the sale proceeds from the organic fertiliser would be given to slum dwellers of Bhasantek and the rest would be used for maintenance of the project. The slum people would dump kitchen waste in a specially fabricated barrel and they would be trained to do so. The waste would turn into fertiliser in three months. The project has been initiated to help clear garbage from some of 3500 tones of garbage that are accumulated in the city per day and put in into productive use. Researches have proved that through a proper solid waste management that entails recycling operations, a good stock of about 240 tons of organic manure can be produced from the garbage that piles up everyday in the city. This will not only save the national exchequer about Tk. 35 crore annually by way of import substitution of fertilisers but will also help create direct employment opportunities for more than 8,000 people. The benefits of proper waste 1 management will be to recycle the garbage to produce 'compost' which is a stable end-product derived from biological degradation of a variety of disposed of items like leaves, vegetable remains, bones, meat and fish wastes, etc. Compost can be readily used in soil, particularly in farmlands producing vegetables. Because of its nearly 60 per cent moisture content, compost can be of optimum benefit for improving the top soil of farmlands. Moreover, it can be a better replacement for the chemical fertilisers that are unfriendly to environment. It is all the more beneficial because manufacture of compost is cost-effective and does not require any large-scale industrial installation or any high-tech equipment. Almost all equipment for this can be produced locally and most of the operation is done manually. A popular way of making compost is known as Manual Aerobic Method. It has been found that it takes only Tk. 2 (A$ 0.07) for producing one kilogram of compost from garbage. .2(II) Waste Concern, a local NGO working in collaboration with the private sector, has come up with a pilot project for making compost from organic waste in Dhaka City. Through the unique project, they are trying to explore the economic benefits associated with recycling of the wastes situated at Mirpur Section 2 under the financed by Sustainable Environment Management Program (SEMP). The Waste Concern operates the plant on the basis of house-to-house waste collection system. In the initial stage, 100 households in the area were brought under the project, each being charged Tk. 10/ month (A$ 0.40) for the garbage collection. After collection, the garbage is deposited in the plant and following the aerobic method; it is processed to make compost and produces one

ton of compost per day employing five workers. The wages of the workers are paid by selling the compost in the market. The production cost of compost using manual aerobic method is Tk 1.65/Kg (A$ 0.06). However, this production cost does not include land rent or cost. The market price of compost in Dhaka at present is Tk 10~18 (A$ 0.40~0.60). Presently, Waste Concern is selling its compost to a local company at Tk 2.50/Kg (A$ 0.08). This unique venture of Waste Concern demonstrates that a small-scale decentralised community-based composting plant can be a commercially viable and self-sustained project. The efforts of Waste Concern also proved that there is a way to manage their wastes in a sustainable way. Not only is the approach environment-friendly, but it can also generate employment for the poor and destitute section of society. It successfully links the plea to integrate environment with development, though on a small scale, which is the need of the hour to maintain the ecological balance of the environment, particularly the urban habitat. Community participation in the collection of wastes and their source separation are promoted to increase the awareness of the people about the environment. It has tried to do so by using multi-media techniques, like demonstration projects, TV, radio, plays, brochures, T-shirts and others. They also seek to incorporate the environmental protection and conservation message in schools' extra-curricular activities and develop a data bank of information from all over the world about waste recycling. Recently, the Waste Concern has established working links with the Program for Literacy and Economic Association (PLFA) which is running a school at the Waste Concern premises for those illiterate street children and women who are engaged in their waste recycling activities. The ultimate objective of the Waste Concern is to popularise compost from processing solid waste with the help of the informal sector, which is still an unexplored sector in the country. 5.0 How Willingness to pay enhance the Community-based Solid Waste Management Providing facilities for which the users want to pay is a strong prerequisite for the financial sustainability of solid waste management. Therefore it is essential to explore the willingness to pay of the users to obtain certain services. The willingness to pay for solid waste management in Bangladesh is influenced by different factors as is shown in the following paragraphs. Perceived benefits of a new facility: Where the users perceive that new facilities provide a service level that is much higher than the existing management, they will be more enthused to pay a higher contribution. This is particularly the case if they are not satisfied with their present service level of solid waste management. The preparedness to pay will also be higher if the users feel that the possible cost are low in comparison with other communal services such as electricity supply or education. Prevailing local customs in relation to paying for services: This can only be reversed by showing that the

current solid waste management is very poor and that by paying for an improved management they will receive a much better service. Level of income : Communities with low incomes and low ability to pay are less willing to pay for improved solid waste management services because they need their financial resources for other basic needs such as food, health care, education and shelter. Perception of ownership and understanding : Involving the users from the start of a solid waste management project in a transparent way helps to increase their willingness to pay. It will clarify for them the contributions that are being provided by different actors including the government and the expected contribution of the users. A higher degree of community autonomy over solid waste management services may also be positive as a sense of ownership often encourages responsibility and pride. According the above points, the NGOs in Bangladesh has been using the theory of bidding game to establish the willingness to pay for community-based solid waste management in different communities. In this theory, interviewers ask future users whether they are prepared to pay a certain amount of money for an improved communitybased solid waste management. Then the negotiation continuous between the interviewer and the user household, moving within a range of potential prices until the bidding settles at a final value. However, in the past of this study, the interviewers have asked whether community people would be willing to pay fees to access into community-based solid waste management. Typically, over 2/3 of the respondents claimed that they would not pay fees. After one year of community-based solid waste management, it is found that community peoples are paying more than 90% fee (approximately Tk. 10.00/household/ month, where approx. Tk. 30.00 = 1A $) for the betterment of this on-going communitybased solid waste management in the different places of Bangladesh. 6.0 Success Story of Prodipan for Community-based Solid Waste Management Khulna is the third largest city of Bangladesh with 1.5 million populations, where reeling under growing pressure of stinking garbage. According to the authority of Khulna City Corporation (KCC), it has become difficult for the corporation to remove huge quantum of garbage dumped around the city everyday due to lack of its manpower and vehicles. Everyday, some 200-300 mts of solid waste are dumped in dustbins or alongside roads and a huge chunk of it remained stockpiled for days, spreading bad odour. With its present manpower and vans, the corporation can remove only 100 to 120 mts of garbage a day. In this situation, some voluntary organisations such as 'Prodipan' and 'Rajtik' have come up to quickly remove dirt from around the city and carrying out their activities of community-based s olid waste management. Prodipan (a NGO) is currently disposing of domestic wastes from seven wards and playing a pioneering role by introducing clinical waste management system in the port city, Khulna. Prodipan has started the solid waste management in KCC area in 1997 under a project, known as Solid Waste

Management Project in collaboration with the KCC. UNDP and Swiss Development Corporation (SBC) jointly fund the project with technical assistance from World Bank. Through community-based solid waste collection, it helps the City Corporation to carry the waste to the disposal site. The organisation is setting up of the garbage organic recycling units, which are quickly disposed of solid wastes and preventing environmental pollution. The main objectives of prodipans pilot project are to identify a range of options for the communities to participate in management process and share the cost incurred for solid waste disposal, assess the possibilities of willingness to pay for community-private-public based approach to manage municipal solid waste through awareness program by adapting formal and informal environmental education. Also obtain experiences for undertaking large investments in urban waste management. The project sites are identified randomly in words of 6, 17, 24 and 28. A total of 10 different communities with different socio-economic profiles have been included in these sites; each of which is between 350 to 500 households. Prodipan has organizing and motivating these communities through informal and formal environmental education and training; and motivated them willingness to pay through a community-private relationship and partnership for door to door solid waste collection and disposal to the secondary dumping points of KCC. The major indicators used to evaluate the performance of this project are: means and methods adopted for waste disposal before and after Prodipans intervention (Pic. 5), status of cleanliness in the project area, environmental education and motivation activities of Prodipan (Pic. 6), health and economic impacts, and how willingness to pay would increase the activities of the project (Fig.2). The performance is evaluated by using questionnaire survey and the details analysis of the Pradipans documents.

Pic.5: Results of Prodipan activities: Scattering the solid waste before intervention (left) and clean the road after intervention (right).

Pic.6: Environmental Education and Motivation activities of Prodipan. Results and Discussion: The survey result depicted that average family size is 4.9 in the project area. Most of the families comprise 5 members (34.9%) followed by 4 members (34.3%) and 6 members (14.2%). Most of the head of the households are engaged in Govt. services and business activities (30.0%), which is followed by private services (20.6%) and others profession (10.9%) such as lawyer, bus-taxi truck drivers, riska pullers, etc. Only 0.3 % head of households are engaged in agricultural activities. Average mon thly income of a family is Tk. 8760.00. Most of families monthly incomes are between Tk. 5001.00 ~ Tk. 7500.00 (23.3%), which is followed by Tk. Tk. 7501 ~ Tk. 10000.00 and Tk. 2501.00 ~ Tk. 5000.00 (16.7%). In this study, it is evaluated that introduction of formal and informal educations and training with other motivation work of the project has influenced greatly to increase the willingness to pay for community-based solid waste management. It is found that educated persons has accepted or realised the solid waste management system quicker than the less educated person or illiterate. Most of the community people believes that waste cleaning is a part of religious matter and Almighty Allah (GOD) help the person who clean himself as well as their surroun ding environment. Most community peoples are easily motivated by the frequent lectures deliberation from the teachers and students of Khulna University, particularly Environmental Science Discipline of Khulna University (a National University of South-West part of Bangladesh). The lectures includes the details of surrounding environment, the relationship between man and environment, solid waste, how solid waste waste could be managed and communitybased solid waste could be managed by increasing the community participation and willingness to pay, etc. In motivational activates, it includes visit house to house, postering at the different places, meeting with community

peoples at certain interval, small gathering, school and college campaign and rallies. The fig. 1 shows the relationship between perceptions of environmental education (formal and informal) and performance of the degree of solid waste management. The perceptions of the environmental education (both formal and informal) in a person is calculated by taking person to person interview on different environmental management questions such as how you can separate your household solid waste into different categories. The performance of the degree of solid waste management is identified by direct visit of interviewees house before and after intervention of the project including application of motivation and environmental education to the community peoples. The observation of the house includes the availability of rats and cockroaches in the house, distribution of the solid waste in the house, cleaningness of the house, personal hygiene, etc. The study shows that before Prpdipans project 38% of the household used nearby dustbins to dispose their waste, 30% threw into open space and 28.5% disposed nearby drains. But at this moment, all these households give their waste regularly to the waste collector boys of this project and 43% of the households directly dispose their waste into projects van (man powered pulled vehicle) keeping the solid waste in polythene bags (Pic.7). This only possible due to increase of environmental awareness of the community people. In order to develop the habit of willingness to pay for the services and to recover the expenses incurred by collection of solid waste from the households and disposal of them at the secondary municipal points, a system of payment of service charges by the service receiving households has been developed. At present the individual households monthly payments vary from Tk. 1.00 ~Tk. 5.00. The survey results indicate that the rate of willingness to pay is increasing up to more than 90%, even in the low income slum communities. It clearly shows that the urbanities of Khulna are ready to pay for the service if it is regularly provided. Further, the Prodipans project has set a glaring example that how a NGO can work in close cooperation with a government agency for the betterment of the community ie. community-NGO-public partnership. This project has also addressed welfare issues of the project workers ie. of van /riska pullers, waste collector boys and others. The project has also involved the local persons in managing solid waste through establishing solid waste management committees.

Pic.7: Activities of Prodipan for community-based solid waste management.

6.0 Sustainability of Community-based Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh Solid waste management (SWM) refers to all activities pertaining to the control, collection, transportation, processing and disposal of those in accordance with the best principles of public health, economics, engineering, conservation, aesthetics and other environment considerations. Its scope includes all attendant administrative, financial, legal, planning and engineering functions. To achieve this definition and objectives, in particular Bangladesh situation of SWM interventions in community-based solid waste management have to be sustainable. Warner states that the success or sustainability of a project is achieved when it meets its objectives and is maintained by its users over a significant period of time (Ahmed and Rahman, 2000). The definition that has evolved indicates that: community-based solid waste management is sustainable when it provides an efficient and reliable service at a level which is desired; can be financed or co-financed by the users with limited but feasible external support and technical assistance; and is being used an efficient and effective way, without negatively affecting the environment. This definition involves four crucial dimensions: the user community wanting an efficient and reliable service, the technology that has to provide it, the

institutional environment and efficient use of the service. Therefore an appropriate solid waste management system (Fig. 3) is essential in order to minimise the effect on health and well being of a community as well as on the environment in general. Lets look at some possible approaches to solve the problems of sustainable way of solid waste management in Bangladesh. .1(I) One of the most promising approaches to improve the collection could be the introduction of community-based solid waste collection schemes. Operational efficiency of solid waste services can be improved by increasing the participation of the private sector/NGOs/CBOs (community based organizations). The amount of waste transported and disposed of in landfills is a key issue in SWM in Pourashavas (municipalities). Therefore, more emphasis will have to be placed on the recycling of organic fractions and subsequent use of fertiliser or electricity generation (bio-gas or other means) that account for the main portion of the municipal solid waste produced in the urban areas of Bangladesh. Composting of municipal solid waste in decentralised and small-scale communal plants is a viable option for the country's Pourashavas / municipalities. The National Policy for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation, 1998 of the government of Bangladesh put emphasis on the recycling of the waste material, as much as possible. Like many other countries, the task of waste management in Bangladesh cities and different urban centres could be sub-contracted to private enterprises having the expertise and resources to handle the job more efficiently. .2(II) In India, the most popular and widely employed technique for solid waste disposal relies on earthworms generally referred to as farmers friend. For centuries, earthworms, as biological natural agents, have been in the business of decomposing wastes and enriching the soil structure. An innovative disciplines of vermiculture biotechnology, the breeding and propagation of earthworms and the use of its castings has become an important tool of waste recycling the world over. Essentially, the vermiculture provides for the use of earthworms as natural bioreactors for cost-effective and environmentally sound solid waste management. As it is, the Pune-based Bhawalkar Earthworm Research Institute has done commendable work in exploiting the vermiculture technology for urban waste recycling. Many voluntary agencies in cities like Pune and Bangalore of India are actively involved in employing vermicultural techniques for waste treatment and garbage management as a part of community-based solid waste management.

Fig. 3: Functional elements of a complete sustainable solid waste management system (Dahi, 1996). (III) With the application of the Modem Waste Management System, the wastes of urban cities can be managed in a way that is environment-friendly, cleaner and more hygienic. A change in the design of waste management is essential to reduce the potential health hazards in the urban municipalities and corporations. The application of modern system of waste management and recycling of waste will change the quality of environment and will reduce the potential health hazards. It is also important to change people's attitude to achieve better hygienic practices in solid waste management and to encourage the implementation of stricter laws concerning waste management. Recycling part of the material wastes has proved to be an effective solution. But more researches will have to be conducted to find out how more of the disposed of items could be retrieved from the wastes to re-cycle them for productive and economic use. For that, efforts should be made to evolve a proper waste management system with a scientific approach.

7.0 Strategies / Recommendations in the Policy and Planning for Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh Bangladesh municipalities and city corporations are failed to proper management of solid waste from the urban areas due to limitations of existing logistic supports and manpower, corruption, lack of willingness to public services and others. But it is revealed that they can do sustainable management with the collaboration of different concerned NGOs, local communities and other private sectors. The success of NGOs of community-based solid waste management and resource recovery is therefore, a best option for the sustainability of solid waste management with municipality/city corporation-local community peoplesNGO-private sector partnership. Therefore, the study is recommended for the community based solid waste management practice to each of every municipality/ city corporation area with close collaboration of government support as well as the collaboration from other national/international organizations. Recycling of wastes has proved to be an effective solution, but more researches will have to be conducted to find out how more of the disposed of items could be retrieved from the wastes to re-cycle them for productive and economic use. However, the recommendations of the study are as follows: Involvement of private sector, non-government organisations (NGOs) and, more importantly, communities for community-based solid waste management. It is the only solution for sustainability of solid waste management in the developing countries like Bangladesh. Community participation and willingness to pay for solid waste management would surely enable it to attend to regulatory and monitoring imperatives of concern authorities. The study shows that willingness to pay for community-based solid waste management is enhanced by the increasing of environmental education. So this study recommends the developing of various awareness programs to the different local communities by increasing both the formal and informal environmental educations. Local organizations and NGOs could do this work very effectively through school campaign, rallies, house visit, postering, and small gathering others. With the expansion of city-both vertically and horizontally, and with the geometric growth of its population, the volume of waste and garbage will keep increasing. The planners and the city fathers will now have to look into the future and find out a sustainable solution to the problem by introducing efficient measures for waste disposal after utilisation of the useable materials from the waste. The waste management in Bangladesh cities and other urban centres could be sub-contracted to private enterprises having expertise and resources to handle the job more efficiently. The city corporations should phase out all roadside dustbins and formulate policies to involve NGOs, community-based organisations and the private sector in solid waste management in cities. Household waste could be taken directly to a designated place for sorting, recycling
and composting.

The study shows that lots of waste (hazardous waste) is coming from city clinics and

hospitals. As the matter involves the health of millions of residents of the city, it warrants immediate government action. To start with, the Ministry of Health should issue guidelines for all hospitals including those in private, regarding disinfecting and disposal of waste. There must be clear instructions as to how the disposable syringes, empty containers of toxic chemicals and drugs should be destroyed to prevent their reuse or recycling. All major hospitals in the city must install incinerators for instant disposal of infected waste materials. 8.0 References [1] Ahmed M. F. and Rahman M. M. (2000) Solid Waste Management : Water Supply & Sanitation Rural and Low Income Urban Communities, ITN Bangladesh, Centre for Water Supply and waste Management, BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh with contribution from IRC, International Water and sanitation Centre, Delft, The Netherlands. [2] Cairncross, S. and Feachem, R.G. (1993) Environmental Health Engineering in the Tropics: An Introductory Text, 2 edition, John Wiley & sons, UK.
nd

[3] Dahi, E. (1996) Environmental Engineering in Developing Countries, Denmark. [4] Diaz et. al. (1998) Sectoral Analysis in Bangladesh , Draft Report, The World Bank, Washington D.C., USA. [5] IFRD and BCSIR (1998) Refuse Quality Assessment of Dhaka City Corporation for waste to Electrical energy Project, The World Bank, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, GOB, Dhaka, Bangladesh. [6] Rahman M. F. (2000) Closing the Organic Loop : Need for Managing Municipal Solid Waste : The Independent, 03 January 2000, A Daily National English Newspaper of Bangladesh. [7] Salequzzaman, M. (2000) Perceptions of Vehicle Air Pollution in Khulna, Bangladesh, Proceedings of the Habitus 2000 Conference in Perth, Western Australia on05~09 September, 2000. [8] Salequzzaman, M., Murtaza, M. G. and Saroar, M. (1998) Evaluation Study on Municipal Solid WasteManagement Project in Khulna City, PRODIPAN, Shaheb Bari Road, Khulna 9203, Bangladesh. [9] The New Nation (04.04.2000) The Daily National English Newspaper of Bangladesh. [10] The New Nation (15.11.2000) The Daily National English Newspaper of Bangladesh.

Acknowledgment The authors wish to acknowledge with gratitute the considerable work of Mr. Monir Alam Chowdhury (Coordinator, Solid Waste Management Project of Prodipan) and Mr. Mohammad G. Murtaza (Head, Urban and Rural Planning of Khulna University, Bangladesh) in compiling some of the information in this paper. Finally, we are thankful to Mrs. MoonMoon Chowdhury, Shimu and Rhimu for their assistance on this paper.

Waste Reduction : Data

Garbage collection by cities

Name of Average No. of City estimated solid dustbin Corporation waste production (M. ton) Per day Rajshahi Chittagonj Dhaka Khulna 300 1100 3200 300 Annual 109500 280 401500 1474 1168000 na 109500 1200

Solid waste No. of management vehicle staff (No.) for solid waste

Solid waste dumping

No. of Dumping / day Vehicle Others places (M. ton) / Area 1078 1840 na 549 17 116 na 32 207 na na 316 19.95 * 2 na 25 * 240 850 na 237

Note : * denotes acres Source: Solid waste management cells of city corporations. Note: Total waste generated in typical urban centres is estimated to be 1.5-2.0 times the waste collected by pourashavas and city corporations.

Amount of Waste Generated, Collected and Transported to Dumping site:

Data Source

BKH, 1985-86 DCC, 1985 LBI, 1990 WHO, 1990 MMI, 1991 JICA, 1991 PAS, 1997 RSWC, 1998 BCAS, 1998 DCC, 1999

Assumed Volume Assumed collecting by collected by density of the DCC (%) the DCC Solid Waste (m3) (ton/m3) 50 937 0.56 50 1600 0.56 50 NA N.A 50 1381 0.80 50 1174 0.58 50 N.A N.A 75-80 N.A 0.35 50 N.A 0.60 50 N.A 0.604 Little over 50 N.A 0.689

Quantity disposed at dump sites (ton/day) 520 888 1250 1105 683 770 N.A 600-800 1199 1800

Solid Waste generation (ton/day) 1040 1776 2500 2210 1300 1540 3000-5000 1200-1600 2398 3500

Source: BCAS, 1998 and ibid. Average Composition of Solid Waste for Different Areas

Area Type

Food Paper Polythene waste

Cloth Garden Brick Leaves Trimming Wood, and

Shredded Density Skin and

Box 2. Integrated wastewater treatment and resource recovery in Khulna

Integrated wastewater treatment and resource recovery is an initiative in decentralised wastewater management implemented by the NGO PRISM-Bangladesh with support from UNDP. This involves the use of wastewater stabilisation ponds in Khulna which are used for treatment of wastewater and production of duckweed which is then used to feed fish. Through a process of community mobilisation, PRISM has been encouraging members of the local communities in the areas where they work to be more actively involved with environmental management activities including both solid waste and wastewater management. Both initiatives are based upon the principle of use of waste for resource recovery to produce a marketable produce, which can then support local livelihoods. In addition to this, are health benefits and environmental improvements from improved waste management. In addition to the harvest of duckweed for fish production, the plant operators use the land on the side of the lagoons to produce vegetables and fruits which they sell in the local markets Variations in wastewater flow during the year affects the hydraulic and waste loading considerably, especially during the dry season when local farmers use wastewater from the main collection drain for irrigation. The reduced loading has significant implications on the operational performance of the treatment system both in terms of quality of effluent and production of duckweed. Other factors which affect the sustainability of the system relate to the concentration of other pollutants (e.g detergents) in the raw wastewater. In terms of replication, the main constraints are financial capital for initial investment for the treatment facilities and cost of land acquisition. The availability of sufficient land is particularly problematic and for this reason, PRISM is seeking ways to reduce the land requirements of the treatment facility, which involves the development of a wastewater filter for pre-treatment of the wastewater. The overall management responsibilities of the wastewater treatment plant lies with PRISM and the Project Management Unit (PMU), which is responsible for operation and maintenance of the treatment plant. The main members of the PMU are PRISM staff with community committees representatives from the ward level. THE PMU receives support from a Project Advisory Committee (PAC), which provides project direction and coordination to improve the implementation and sustainability of project. As well as members from PRISM, the members of the PAC include representatives from Khulna City Council (KCC) and Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and the chairperson is the City Mayor. The revenue collected from the project is kept in a joint bank account of management committee and PRISM. According to the PRISM staff, 80% recovery of the O & M cost has been achieved. PRISM plans to hand the treatment system over the community with an expected revenue collection from the project, which would make it financially sustainable. In relation to sustainability, one of the main problems envisaged is the committees strength to manage the treatment system and technical soundness of the community to operate and maintain the system. However, prior to this is the need to increase awareness amongst the local community about the potential benefits of improved wastewater management. In general, PRISM has found that community members are more responsive to solid waste and small-scale composting initiatives. The challenge is therefore to motivate people to be more involved in wastewater management activities. One possibility is to combine the wastewater treatment facility with a faecal sludge treatment in order to increase the organic loading to increase the production of duckweed, which would make the treatment system less land intensive

Ref: Environmental Risk Management Project (ERMP) (2001) Khulna City Corporation, Khulna, Bangladesh Khulna Development Authority (KDA) (2000) Final Report:

Structure Plan, Master Plan and Detailed Area Plan for Khulna City, Khulna, Bangladesh. Rashid, H. (2000) Water Supply and Sanitation Sector in Bangladesh: A Brief Overview unpublished report

Peoples Perception of the Existing Solid Waste Management of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Area: A Case Study of Participatory Management

The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Directors or the governments they represent. ADB makes no representation concerning and does not guarantee the source, originality, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any statement, information, data, finding, interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented.

Peoples Perception of the Existing Solid Waste Management of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Area: A Case Study of Participatory Management
Professor Dr. Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Vice Chancellor, Khulna University, Bangladesh Dr. Md. Salequzzaman, Associate Professor, Environmental Science
Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh, and Research Fellow, Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy (ISTP), Murdoch University, Western Australia, Phone: +880 41 813239, Fax: +880 41 731244, Email: salek_uz@yahoo.com / msalequzzaman@hotmail.com Md. Mezbaul Bahar, Lecturer, Environmental Science Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh Md. Nazim Uddin, Lecturer, Environmental Science Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh Md. Atikul Islam, Lecturer, Environmental Science Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh; and Md. Abdullah Yousuf al Harun, Lecturer, Environmental Science Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh Abstract: Generation of solid waste (SW) is a major problem in urban areas, thus its management is one of the important obligatory functions to not only urban local authority but also for the urban peoples. The research focuses on existing solid waste management (SWM) system of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) area for improving its inhabitants environmental health and how peoples perceived on SWM activities of the KCC areas. The research also finds out the participatory management system through analyzing the peoples perceptions is an alternative to its regular activities. For example, house to house SWM. Finally the research suggests some appropriate recommendations on how a participatory-sustainable solid waste management system could be developed in the area of KCC to achieve its goals.

1. Introduction Waste is nothing but useful material at wrong place. This waste management, particularly solid waste management is one of the important obligatory functions of not only urban local authority but also of the awareness of urban people. But this essential service of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) is not efficiently and properly performed by the local bodies and the people are not aware about this problem, resulting in many health, environmental and sanitation problems. It is observed that lack of financial resources, institutional weakness, improper selection of technology, transportation systems and disposal options, publics apathy towards environmental cleanliness and sanitation have made this service unsatisfactory. The fundamental objectives of solid waste management program are to minimize the pollution of the environment as well as utilizing the waste as a resource. These goals should be achieved in a way that is financially sustainable, i.e. using methods that can be afforded by the community over the long term and with minimum risk to the persons involved. Methods of solid waste management vary greatly with types of wastes and local conditions. The best systems are designed by fixing together the fundamental goals, a clear analysis of local conditions and factors, an understanding of the full range of technology options that are available and an awareness of the traditional wisdom and systems that the local people have developed. 1.1. Meaning of solid waste and its management Solid wastes are all wastes arising from human and animal activities that are normally solid in nature and that are discarded as useless or unwanted. It is a generic term used to describe the things we through away that include garbage, refuse, trash, and others. Solid Waste Management refers all activities pertaining to the control, collection, transportation, processing and disposal of

those in accordance with the best principles of public health, economics, engineering, conservation, aesthetics and other environmental considerations. It includes all the procedures from the source and final disposal which should not have any harmful effect to the environment or least environmental effect that could be integrate by any physical or technical or social activities. This management also includes all attendant administrative, financial, legal and engineering functions.

1.2. Participatory Solid Waste Management: Participatory or Community-based management of services backed by measures to strengthen local institutions in implementing and sustaining solid waste management programs, is one of the guiding principles in international declarations such as New Delhi Consultation in 1990 and reconfirmed in Agenda 21 (Ahmed and Rahman, 2000).

Participatory management is an approach that seeks to make the best use resources available within the community with support from government or any NGO or organization. In communities or user groups, take on more tasks and responsibilities, relieving agencies of routine solid waste management and maintenance duties through and learning approach by promoting changes of prevailing attitude, behaviour, norms, skills and procedures.

2. Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Khulna City is the third largest city of the Bangladesh, which is located in the in the north latitude and 1 and 2338 southwestern part of the country. It s situated between 21east longitude and is 16 ft. above mean sea level. The city stands on the 8 89 85 & 98
0 0 0 0

western bank of the river Bhairab. The initial growth of the city started along the river bank in the south some times in early nineteenth century and the real spread started towards north-west. It grew into a linear shape. The shape is influenced by a physical barrier-the river on the east and in availability of build able land on the west. Although the city is growing spatially in a substantial scale the citys normal function has been founded to be highly depended on the city center (Islam, M. A., 2004)). Total area of the Khulna city is 47.0 sq. km. comprising 31 wards. In 2004, total population of Khulna city was 1.5 Millions with a growth rate of 1.54 (interview of KCC Authority). Gross population density of the Khulna City is 18,000 persons per sq km (USAID, 2002). The Khulna Municipality was established in 1884 and in the year of 1991 it was converted to Khulna City Corporation.

3. Generation of solid waste in KCC According to interview of the KCC people and the relevant NGO Khulna City Corporation generates around 455 tons of municipal solid waste per day considering all the sources and the generation rate is 0.75 Kg/capita/day on an average. The maximum part is organic waste among all generated wastes in KCC and rest is inorganic waste and the amount inorganic hazardous

wastes are 5 tons which are generating from the 50 hospitals/clinics. Waste generation rate varies from area to area and season to season. High amount of municipal waste is generated during May to July because various types of seasonal fruit are available in that time.

Figure-01: Khulna City Corporation. (Salequzzaman, 2005).

3.1. Characteristics of Municipal Solid Waste in KCC

Domestic wastes are the main sources of MSW in Khulna city Corporation. The other important sources of municipal solid wastes are Commercial wastes which comprises of markets, hotels, restaurants, hospital/Clinical, institutions including schools, colleges and government offices, construction & demolition, municipal services like street sweeping, drain sweeping, treatment plant sites and other wastes.( Salequzzaman, Banerjee and Ahmed, 2005) The household sector is the primary source of Municipal solid wastes in Khulna city. About eighty percent wastes are coming from domestic sources. These are includes organic, inorganic non-hazardous and inorganic hazardous. Mainly clinical and some industrial wastes are inorganic hazardous wastes.

Figure-02: Waste Generation Rate in Five Residential area in KCC. (Salequzzaman, Banerjee, and Ahmed, 2005).

Figure-03: Quantity of waste in Five Residential areas in KCC. (Salequzzaman, Banerjee, and Ahmed, 2005).

Figure-04: Sources of generated solid waste in KCC. (, Banerjee and Ahmed, 2005).

Figure-05: Composition of MSW in KCC. (Salequzzaman et al., 1998).

Table 1: Quantity of degradable solid waste (in kg) in five residential areas of KCC (Salequzzaman, Banerjee and Ahmed, 2005).
Composition Bones Cloth Coir Egg Shell Feather Fish Residue
Garden Trimmings

Meat Residue Paper Starch Vegetables Wood

Nirala (R/A) 19.31 8.658 18.93 3.708 14.43 34.456 15.91 23.331 45.04 27.503 651 17.154

Sonadanga(R/A) 15.51 1.557 7.137 2.825 11.95 20.57 3.2 13.581 6.89 26.022 149 0.991

Mujgonni(R/A) 4.65 6.96 6.44 2.27 7.12 23 2.12 20.58 14.85 22.41 139 3.7

Khalispur(R/A) 6.65 7.763 14.39 4.203 2.919 10.507 9.807 4.495 30.24 26.291 356 1.343

Munshipara(R/A) 8.59 2.95 9.57 2.95 4.553 7.66 3.83 5.57 8.48 13.03 327 3.71

4. Participatory Solid Waste Management System in KCC In Khulna City the main responsibility of solid waste management system is on the Khulna City Corporation. This Solid Waste Management System can be explained by two ways:

a) Collection and transportation of solid waste to the disposal site. b) Resource recovery and composting of solid waste.

a) Collection and transportation of solid waste to the disposal site: There are two types of solid waste collection and transportation to the disposal site in Khulna City Corporation region. These are: i) Conventional System ii) Participatory System

i) Conventional System: Waste is generated in the home and usually stored until a small amount has been accumulated. In the conventional system it is the responsibility of the householders to carry their wastes to the nearest solid waste bins or similar facilities which are provided by the city corporation and deposit wastes there. The city corporation is responsible for the transfer of this waste from the roadside bins to the final disposal site. Usually the city corporations truck visits these locations at regular intervals and collects and hauls the accumulated wastes to disposal sites.

Figure 06: Conventional waste collection system in KCC. (Khalequzaman, Salequzzaman and Rahman, 2004))

ii) Participatory System: In Khulna the city wards are divided into small areas called primary collection blocks. These

consist of approximately 500 households which are all served by one rickshaw van. Waste generated in the home is stored in a bin, basket or bag and collected everyday by a primary collector who transports the waste to nearby transfer points, normally in a rickshaw van. This is primary collection and is the responsibility of the community. Transfer points are places where waste is unloaded from primary collection vehicles to be taken away by secondary transport. Several primary collection blocks are served by a transfer point. The waste is then collected from the transfer points and taken to the final disposal point by a large truck. This is secondary collection and is the responsibility of the city corporation.

In Khulna City Corporation there are 31 wards. Among these wards in 29 wards (except 22 and 29 no. ward) seventeen NGOs are working for Primary collection. In 31 no. ward the maximum waste generated used for land reclamation of the surrounding low lying areas. For secondary collection and conventional collection of solid waste city corporation has 34 trucks which have to provide trip more than one. The city corporation have 60 bigha own land for dumping the solid waste at the edge of the Khulna city in the Rajbandh.

Figure 07: Community based waste collection system in KCC. (Khalequzaman, Salequzzaman and Rahman, 2004))

Figure 08: Door to door waste collection. Figure 09: Van collection system.

b) Resource recovery and composting of solid waste: The KCC does not perform any kind of resource recovery activities. solid waste like all kinds of papers, metals and glass with other valuables things including polythene / plastic bag have recycled and a group of people is engaged (locally called Tokai) to this profession for their income and daily life maintenance. In general, wastes having some market value are being reclaimed or salvaged in three stages:

In first stage, housewives separate refuse of higher market value such as papers, bottles, fresh containers, old clothes, shoes, etc. and sell them to street hawkers. In second stage, mostly children of slum dwellers Tokai carry out salvaging by collecting different items of low market value from waste collection bins. Scavengers at the final disposal sites do the third stage of salvaging when municipal trucks unload fresh refuse. The reclaimed materials reach the waste and old materials shop through street hawkers who purchase old materials directly from households and through solid waste collectors who reclaim the materials from bins and final disposal sites. These reclaimed materials require intermediate processing like washing, drying and sorting. The refuse dealers separate the materials in proper form and sell them to consumers as well as supply them to appropriate processing factories for reuse as raw materials. Other mismanaged reusable/recyclable are going to different places such as secondary disposal site, drain, low land filling, roadside & open spaces etc. More than two hundreds and fifty shops in KCC areas and above one thousands of people earn their lives depending on it.

According to field survey it is estimated that at present 500 tokays are working for collection of recyclable materials from Secondary disposal sites in KCC area. They scavenge anything that has certain economic value in the market. For recovering, they use either bare hand or bent rod or a wooden stick. They sell their recoverable material to Hawkers or recycling shops and earn on an average 50 80 taka per day.

Table 02: Item and amount of recyclable materials at different locations in KCC (Murtaza, Sarwar and Salequzzaman, 1998). Average Quantity of Recycling Materials (Kg/day/shop) Hazardous Animal Wastes (Saline No. Glass Metal Plastic Paper bag, paint items Bone of etc.) Shops 151 11.00 224.00 15.00 2.50 0.75 0.07 2 25.00 121.00 30.00 7.50 2 24 2 5 2 53.00 27.50 33.00 18.00 268.00 47.00 185.00 91.00 61.00 56.50 22.00 34.00 11.00 8.00 210.00 15.00 58.00 8.00 13 4.25 0.40 0.30

Location of the Shops Sheikh Para Fultala Daulatpur Khalishpur Raligate Fulbarigate Shiromoni

Among the 17 NGOs who are working in KCC solid waste management there are 4 NGOs make compost fertilizer from the solid waste. Khulna city corporation authority gives them land for this activity. In present there are five composting factory. Among these Prism has 3, Rastic, Prodipan and Samadhan each has 1. In the city corporation region some householders compost their waste to use in their home garden.

5. Peoples Perception From the above discussion it is clear that the solid waste of Khulna city is a serious Urban Environmental Problem. However it is not always perceived to be a problem and among some development economists there is a view that people in poor cities like Khulna are not likely to consider such issues as solid waste very seriously (Salequzzaman and Newman, 2000). Therefore, this study has conducted interviews of KCC people to obtain their perception on solid waste, its management and appropriate policy suggestions.

In general, city dwellers think that because they pay taxes, it is the sole responsibility of the city authority to provide them with a nuisance-free habitable city. To build a pollution-free city environment, along with other things, requires an efficient urban management plan (Salequzzaman, Awal and Alam, 2001). Execution of such a plan may not bring any positive change unless and until cooperation from every section of city dwellers could be ensured. Among the house holders, about 60% gives their waste to the waste collector or dumps into the city corporation collection bin. The rest 40% had thrown their waste into roadside, lowland, canals, drains or house premises (Figure 14). House to house collection system supports 80%, communal 10% and others 10%. In Khulna City waste from the house are collected during day time. This system support 80% householder, the rest 15% night and 5% during afternoon. About 80% people known about resource recovery from the solid waste but they dont collect because in some household these materials cause dirty, odor, risky for children etc. More than 40% people separate resource such as paper, bottle, Plastic container, old cloth from the waste

More than 80% people of House holder, educated person, student, roadside shopkeeper, people around the disposal site, scavenger etc. face several types of problem such as odor pollution, air pollution, traffic jam, dirty roadside etc. The opinion of different groups of people about the existing solid waste management system in KCC is that 60% think this system is suitable, 20% think this system should improve such as make regularity in collection, use covered vehicles for transportation of waste, and increase of house to house waste collection system. Most of the people suggest that the solid waste transportation through the KCCs busy roads during night time instead of day time. But the labors of KCC have some problem to work during night time. The main problem is the lack of electricity. Because the waste generated from different sources are not being separated, result in the solid waste contain hazardous and toxic waste such as syringe, broken glass, hospital waste, and thy also afraid because sometimes explosives may be hidden in the waste. Their security is also an important matter of concern.

6. Discussion It is evident that the city dwellers expressed their concerns about the solid waste management system in KCC and its associated problems that they are encountering. There are some hindrances in the KCCs solid waste Management system. These problems are arising from both the city corporation authority and the citizen of different levels. These are as follows:

It is not uncommon that low-income neighborhoods often face considerable problems. In slum areas of KCC inadequate solid waste management is just one of them and its improvement may not have priority for a community. If solid waste management is not a felt need, this will have consequences for their participation in the service and their willingness to pay.

Households often behave contrary to schedules and rules of effective solid waste management. Sometimes this is caused by a lack of facilities. If a transfer point or dumping site is more than 100 meters away from their house, people tend to throw their waste much more often in streets, open spaces and rivers. More often, however, it is due to households lacking knowledge and incentives to keep to the rules of the collection system, and operators lacking sanctions and authority. In most of the cases residents of a neighborhood have a sense of responsibility for their home and immediate environment, but the public places such as streets and drains are considered the responsibility of the State.

Willingness to pay is a rather central point because it is important for the success of a Participatory solid waste management project and it is related to many other aspects such as the motivation of operators and households and the reliability of the service . Salequzzaman, Islam and Stocker, 2001).

Community perception of fees and of the waste collection service is essential for its willingness to pay. If residents think they already pay for collection through taxes, or if they do not trust the service, they refuse to pay.

Management of Participatory solid waste services is often a voluntary activity, mostly carried out by the more effluent residents, who are motivated by community benefits such as a cleaner environment, a better health of neighborhood residents, status of the job, etc. While motivated management is one of the success factors of Participatory solid waste management project, exclusive dependence on one person who manages the operation of a solid waste service is considered undesirable, because accountability to the community and the continuity of the service may not be secured any more.

The accountability to the community of the managers of a solid waste service also depends on the composition of the management committee. Whether it is an elected body or appointed by the local government, whether it consists of traditional leaders or modern community organizations, or of influential individuals.

There is a difference between remuneration of operation and of management of Participatory solid waste management projects. Operational activities like collection of waste, sorting, recycling etc. are almost entirely done on the basis of profit, i.e. a personal salary, because work is hard and status is low.

The salary of operators of waste collection services is often low, because waste collectors derive their income from waste collection fees and from the sale of recyclables. Both do not yield much revenue in low-income neighborhoods. Fee collection is not high, because households in lowincome neighborhoods are not able to pay high fees. The waste that remains to be collected is often worthless due to its high organic content. Another reason for the low salary of operators of waste collection services is the size of coverage areas, which is often too small to earn an adequate income.

The low status of waste collectors in the society may be caused by their low salary, the nature of their work and sometimes by their waste-picker background. The nature of their work is often considered unpleasant and filthy, not only collection but also activities such as sorting of garbage at a composting plant.

An unreliable service, which does not arrive in time or is not carried out according to the

expectations of the community, has consequences for the trust of the community for their participation and willingness to pay for the service. It may be caused by a lack of performance control, a lack of priority of the service when waste collection is carried out as a part time job. If operators have formerly been waste-pickers, they may cause additional reliability problems. 7. Recommendation To ameliorate this environmental problem, the following things could be done: Increase the facility of house to house collection in all areas of KCC. Assurance of regularity in collection and transportation of solid waste from the house hold, bins and primary dumping stations. Separation and collection of separated waste separately from the house by increasing awareness. Increase awareness for reduction of solid waste generation. Transportation of solid waste during nighttime instead of daytime. If it transport during day time use cover on the waste transportation vehicle to reduce the odor pollution and other associated problems. Increase the salary and safety of the labor who working in the solid waste management system. Increase awareness to the people about the resource recovery from the solid waste. More composting of organic degradable waste and used as a fertilizer. Probability assessment of electricity generation from the solid waste. Establishment of sanitary land fill instead of open dumping if funds are available.

REFERENCES:

1.

1. Ahmed, M.F., and Rahman, M. (2000) Water Supply and Sanitation: Rural and low income urban communities, Bangladesh. Centre for Water Supply and Waste Management, ITN- Bangladesh Civil Engineering Building (3rd floor), BUET, Dhaka-1000. Bangladesh. 2. 2. Islam, M. A. (2004) Environmental Awareness builds up through Legislation to meet Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Khulna City, http://www.esp.org/Acess_archives/access32.pdf (25 June 2005). 3. 3. Khairuzzaman, M.M. and Salequzzaman M. (2001) Sustainability of Community-based Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Planning, Design and Technology in Indigenous & Developing Communities (Community Technology 2001 Conference), 05-06 July 2001, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. 4. 4. Khalequzaman, M.M, Salequzzaman, M and Rahman, M, B. (2004) Participatory and Communitybased Co-Management of Wetland in Bangladesh: An Initiative of Ox-Bow Lake. In: Proceedings of The Second International Symposium on Southeast Asian Water Environment to be held on December 1-3, 2004, Hanoi, Vietnam, http://www.env.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/project/asian_water/ (access on 22 September 2004). 5. 5. Knowledge Network (2004) Water and Sanitation Program, Web site: www.wsp.org (25 June 2005). 6. 6. Matsuo, T.; Sato, H.; Urase, T.; Inata, S.; Yamada, K.; and Salequzzaman, M. (1995) Fate of pollutants in Environment. In: Proceedings of the Research Works 1995, Department of Urban Engineering, Tokyo University, Japan. 7. 7. Murtaza, G.M.; Sarwar, M. and Salequzzaman, M. (1998) An NGOs Initiative on Municipal Solid Waste Management in Khulna City. In: Proceedings of the workshop on waste management in Khulna City, 26 October 1998, BIT of Khulna, Bangladesh, organized by Committee for Advanced Research and Studies, Council of BITs and BIT, Khulna, pp. 11-13.

8.

8. Murtaza, G.M.; Sarwar, M. and Salequzzaman, M. (1998) Evaluation study on Municipal Solid Waste Management Project in Khulna City, PRODIPAN, Shaheb Bari Road, Khulna-9203, Bangladesh. 9. 9. Salequzzaman et al., (1998) Environmental Health Risk Assessment for Khulna City Corporation Area. In: Proceedings of the Environmental Health Project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, 09 August 1998. 10. 10. Salequzzaman, M. (1996) appropriate water supply and sanitation technologies in the rural areas of Bangladesh. Journal of International Environmental Planning Center (INTEP), vol. III, Department of Urban and Environmental Engineering, the University of Tokyo, Japan, pp. 53-66. 11. 11. Salequzzaman, M. (2000) Perceptions of Vehicle Air Pollution in Khulna, Bangladesh, Proceedings of the Habitus 2000 Conference in Perth, Western Australia on05-09 September, 2000. 0 12. Salequzzaman, M. (2003) Sustainable Coastal Development: Perspectives of Local knowledge and Community-based Co-management in South-east Asian Coastal Community. In: Proceedings of the 1 IUGG 2003 International Conference, Japan (http:www.jamstec.go.jp/jamstece/iugg/htm/abstract/abst/jsp11/005099-3.html (accessed on 14 September 2003)). 12. 13. Salequzzaman, M. (2004) Participatory Community Management: A Tool for Sustainable Development in Bangladesh. In: Proceedings of the Sustainable Communities 2004, Burlington, Vermont, 14-18 July 2004. http://www.globalcommunity.org/cgi/gc/scan/fi=papers/st=db/co=1/sf=speaker_code/se=00401/op=eq/nu=0/ml=1000/t o=x/tf=sort/to=x/sp=200407::papers_results.html (access on 12 August 2004). 13. 14. Salequzzaman, M.; Awal, M. and Alam, M. (2001) Willingness to Pay: Community Based Solid Waste Management and its Sustainability in Bangladesh. In: Proceedings of the International Conference The Future is Here, 15-19 January 2001, RMIT, Melbourne, Victoria ((http://www.mesa.edu.au/aaee_conf/Salequzzaman_Awal-Alam.PDF) (accessed on 24 November 2002)). 14. 15. Salequzzaman, M.; Banerjee, P. and Ahmed, M.K. (2005) Integrated and Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Khulna City Corporation (KCC), Bangladesh: A Zero Dumping Strategy by Recycling and Composting. In: Proceedings of the Seminar on World Environment Day 2005, organized by Community Committee for the Management Coastal Environmental Management, Zia Hall, Khulna, Bangladesh, 04 June 2005. 15. 16. Salequzzaman, M.; Islam, M.T. and Stocker, L. (2001), Community Based Co-Management of OxBow Lake (Baor) and its Sustainability in Bangladesh. In: Proceedings of the International Association of Community Development (IACD) Conference 2001, Rotorua of New Zealand, April 2001 (http://www.iacdglobal.org/conf2001/Thursday.html#Thursday) (accessed on 23 November 2003)). 16. 17. Urase T.; M. Salequzzaman, M.; Kobayashi, T.; Matsuo, K.; Yamamoto and Suzuki. N. (1997) Effect of High Concentration of Organic and Inorganic Matters in Landfill Leachate on the Treatment of Heavy Metals in Very Low Concentration Level. Journal of Water Science and Technology of Elsevier Science Ltd. Vol. 36, no. 12, pp. 349-356.

Acknowledgement
The paper is the outcome of the field survey, sampling and relevant laboratory analysis by Mr. Md. Nurul Amin (Out going student), Mr. Sharif Mahmood (4 year student) and Mr. Md. Mosharaf Hossain (4 year student) of Environmental Science Discipline of Khulna University, Bangladesh. We acknowledge all of their contributions with grateful thanks.
th th