Bangladesh is at a crossroads in its urban sanitation journey. With over 65 million people living in towns and cities, the need for safe, inclusive, and sustainable faecal sludge management (FSM) has never been greater.
And yet, despite notable policy progress, including the Institutional and Regulatory Framework for FSM and the National FSM Action Plan, the gap between what is on paper and what is happening on the ground remains huge.
For too long, the conversation around FSM has been dominated by infrastructures and logistics. Treatment plants are constructed, vacuum trucks are procured, ribbon-cutting ceremonies held, but many soon sit idle or underutilized.
These are not isolated cases but reflect a structural issue: Our fixation on hardware without the corresponding investment in the systems that make it work.
At Water and Sanitation for Urban Populations (WSUP), our experience in cities across Bangladesh has taught us that bricks, mortar, and machines alone will not solve the sanitation crisis. What we need is a shift in mindset -- one that recognizes that the “software” of FSM is just as critical as the “hardware.”
Enforcement, behaviour change, operator training, financial viability, protection of sanitation workers, and ongoing maintenance are not luxuries. They are non-negotiables.
If we build treatment plants without enforcing disposal regulations, if we launch services without educating communities, if we employ private companies without including informal sanitation workers, if we fund infrastructure without budgeting for maintenance, we are gambling not investing.
The good news is that some models exist to show what is possible. Public-private partnerships like SWEEP, pioneered with city authorities and entrepreneurs, have proven that safely managed FSM can also be a viable business.
Some operators, like Gulshan Clean and Care, Lilly’s Family, and Healthy Tanks, are already generating solid revenue, creating jobs, and improving health outcomes.
But they are still working in an ecosystem that remains fragile, dependent on project-based funding, patchy enforcement, and limited consumer awareness.
The path forward demands coordinated action. We need local governments empowered and resourced to oversee FSM services. We need regulators to enforce standards. We need the private sector to be seen not just as vendors, but as partners in delivery.
And crucially, we need development banks and donors to move beyond funding construction alone, by supporting market development for treated sludge end-products and providing concessional finance for small-scale entrepreneurs, including informal sanitation workers, to transition away from manual desludging.
Investments must support the full sanitation service chain, including operations, maintenance, monitoring, and human resource development.
An open letter recently circulated within the FSM community is urging development banks to adopt this systems-thinking approach. WSUP and FSM Network support this call, and we encourage others to do the same.
As we are in the middle of a new phase of FSM investment in Bangladesh, we must be clear-eyed about what works and what does not. Infrastructure is necessary, but it is not sufficient.
To truly protect the health and dignity of our urban population, we must move beyond projects to build lasting, functional, and inclusive sanitation systems.
Uttam Kumar Saha is the Country Manager of Water and Sanitation for Urban Populations (WSUP) Bangladesh. Email: [email protected].
