A waste management project worth Tk21 crore, financed by Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund, has failed to reach its desired goal due to lack of awareness on parts of both city dwellers and waste collectors.
Under the initiative, which prescribes the 3R method – recycle, reuse and reduce – for better waste management, residential buildings in different parts of the capital were provided with four types of waste bins coloured green, yellow, red and blue for different types of wastes.
Cleaners working at the buildings were supposed to divide the wastes in four types – organic, inorganic, hazardous and mixed – and put them in the corresponding bins.
However, a recent visit to the city’s Baridhara residential area revealed that most of the waste collected from households was not disposed following the prescribed 3R method.
In most cases, the wastes are not separated and ultimately go to the dumping ground altogether.
“At the beginning of the project, when the waste bins were supplied to the buildings, most cleaners used to separate wastes regularly. But later they lost their enthusiasm,” said Taher Uddin, a security guard at an apartment house in Baridhara.
The Department of Environment took up the 3R project in 2012.
Moududur Rashid Safder, deputy director of the project, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I would not say that it is a completely failed project. The problem lies with the lack of knowledge about 3R strategies. We have extended one more year from the government to make people aware of waste separation. We will be conducting 3R practice principles with workshops. We hope that we will overcome this challenge soon.
“Clean recyclable fetch a higher price in the market and leads to a growing recycle sector. As less waste needs to be landfilled, environment pollution is reduced too,” he said.
“When people are aware of correct separation of waste, the project will contribute to urban environmental project and, more particularly, climate change adaptation,” he added.
AH Md Maqsood Sinha, co-founder of Waste Concern, a social business enterprise for waste recycling based in Dhaka, blamed the ignorance and lack of motivation of people for the initiative’s ineffectiveness.
“The house-keepers or cleaners lack motivation to separate waste according to their types, because even though they do so, the waste ultimately gets mixed up at the dumping areas,” he said.
The potential solution to this problem could be a strong connection between the city mayors and the communities, Maqsood believes.
“To inspire each community, the mayors and the municipalitieshave a key role to play. They should encourage the society to have a clean and hygienic environment.”
On the behavioural pattern of the city dwellers and waste collectors, the newly elected Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Annisul Huq said implementing the 3R method to manage the city wastage is a must, even though it has several challenges.
“We can recycle both organic and inorganic waste. This waste can be used to produce biogas, electricity and so on,” he said, adding that a rapid awareness among the concerned people is imperative to make the initiative successful.
About 4,500 tonnes of household waste is produced every day in the capital of Dhaka, home to around 12 million people, according to a study conducted by Waste Concern.
As per the 3R initiative, organic household waste is supposed to be used to produce biogas and organic fertiliser, and inorganic waste like plastic and glasses is supposed to be recycled.