Composting and Solid Waste Management in Dhaka City

Abstract

Solid Waste Management (SWM) is one of the major environmental problems in many municipal towns and cities throughout the world. In most of the cases, municipal authorities are struggling to find the best method to manage their residents' wastes. Approximately 3,500-4,000 metric tons of solid waste is generated in Dhaka City. Nearly 50% of generated solid waste is collected and dumped as crude landfill. The rest of the generated wastes remain uncollected and create serious environmental hazard in Dhaka City and uninhabitable situation/dismal for its dwellers. However, a little research works are conducted to find the appropriate solution of the problem. Recently, Waste Concern (Non Government Organization) takes initiative to tackle the problem employing composting technique in a small community such as Mirpur in Dhaka. Wastes are collected as house-to-house basis by rickshaw van. Subsequently, the inorganic parts are sorted out from the waste and organic parts are converted into compost (organic fertilizer) using windrow type aerator. In this study, the applicability of composting operation is studied in terms of technical, economical, social and environmental aspects as an alternative option of solid waste management. Also, a thorough investigation is carried out among the house owners/dwellers on environmental condition due to application of such method. Primary result indicates that this method is technically sound, environmentally safe, cost effective and socially viable.