One of the least discussed issues that certainly deserves more attention is our capital's long-held struggle with providing a comprehensive waste management mechanism. Generating close to 2,000 million litres of waste every day, it is baffling why the administration has not been more pro-active on this front.
To that end, the inauguration of the Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant will certainly help, as it seeks to treat a quarter of the daily volume of waste generated in Dhaka. Untreated waste is one of the leading causes behind the continued pollution of our rivers, and it is good to know that the government is finally getting serious about waste treatment.
However, effective sewage treatment is but one, albeit incredibly important, component of waste management, as one of the more visible ways that the administration keeps failing in this regard is the lack of any garbage bins in public areas, which leads to the overwhelming majority of citizens to resort to littering.
While the DSCC and DNCC had, a few years ago, launched an initiative which saw garbage bins at intervals across various streets in both parts of Dhaka, around 80% of those bins eventually went missing, with next to no explanations provided. It is incumbent upon the city corporations to fix this problem -- it is not enough to simply come up with an initiative, the projects must be seen all the way through, meaning ensuring the garbage bins stay where they were installed and that people are actually using them instead of littering.
We cannot keep ignoring this mess for much longer. Our capital already has numerous issues which affect the quality of life for citizens, it is high time we crossed ineffective waste management off that list.