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Solid Waste Management System of Dhaka North City Corporation and

Process Development for Healthy Environment: A Case Study

Article · January 2021

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Case Study Available online www.ijsrr.org ISSN: 2279–0543

International Journal of Scientific Research and Reviews

Solid Waste Management System of Dhaka North City Corporation
and Process Development for Healthy Environment: A Case Study
Masudul Alam*, Md. Sahadat Hossain and K. Moudood Elahi

Department of Environmental Science, Stamford University Bangladesh, Dhaka 1217, Bangladesh

_________________________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT
Waste is one of the problems that require appropriate policy, law, effective strategy,
management and cooperation. The indiscriminate dumping of solid waste on roadsides and into
drains is leading to serious health hazard and degradation of living environment for millions of
people. This study aims to provide the information about the current zone-wise waste management
system, practices, existing problems and people’s perception in Dhaka North City Corporation
(DNCC) to ameliorate the scenario for future. Data were collected by semi-structured questionnaire
survey with 200 families as well as Key Informants Interview (KII) at DNCC to understand the
waste generation in relation to population growth, new consumer product in market, income level,
and education. It is found that the volume of waste generation will be reached 1954063 MTs in 2025
in compare to 560880 Million Tons (MTs) of 2014 with a growth rate 7.5% to 68.9% respectively.
Surprisingly, this study also revealed that income and education level has considerable influence on
waste generation in DNCC. People perceived strong and integrated cooperation by the government,
NGOs, media, the community leaders, concerned authorities, political leaders, the civil society,
professional organizations and voluntary organizations could be helpful to improve this situation.

KEYWORDS: Education, waste generation, collection, management, ISWM, Income, Practices.

_________________________________________________________________________________

*Corresponding Author
Masudul Alam

Post Graduate Student, Department of Environmental Science, Stamford University Bangladesh,

Dhaka 1217, Bangladesh
E Mail: [email protected]

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INTRODUCTION
With the advent of urbanization and the soaring economic growth, both developed and
developing countries have been facing the challenges to maintain urban solid waste, which has
turned into one of the most serious environmental issues. Wastes are defined as unwanted or
unusable materials. Waste is any substance which is discarded after primary use, it is worthless,
defective and of no use. According to EPA1, waste is “any discarded, rejected, abandoned, unwanted
or surplus matter, whether or not intended for sale or for recycling, reprocessing, recovery or
purification by a separate operation from that which produced the matter” 2, 3. Dhaka, the Capital City
of Bangladesh, is expanding rapidly turning it into a mega city with an enormous growth of
population at a rate of around 6 percent a year 4. In Dhaka city, with the increasing population
growth, there is a massive problem of waste management. Ever-growing urbanization has made solid
waste management a serious and a more complicating issue for the management authority. Waste is
an unavoidable byproduct of human activities. Economic development, urbanization and improving
living standards in cities have led to an increase in the quantity and complexity of generated waste.

Rapid growth of population and industrialization degrades the urban environment and places
serious stress on natural resources, which undermines equitable and sustainable development .Rapid
growth of industries, lack of financial resources, inadequate trained manpower, inappropriate
technology and lack of awareness of the community are the major constraints to solid waste
management for the fast growing metropolis of Dhaka. Solid waste disposal poses a greater problem
because it leads to soil pollution if openly dumped, water pollution if dumped in low lands and air
pollution if burnt. Dhaka city is facing serious environmental degradation and public-health risk due
to uncollected disposal of waste on streets and other public areas, clogged drainage system by
indiscriminately dumped wastes and by contamination of water resources near uncontrolled dumping
sites5 .The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is responsible for solid waste management. DCC is facing
serious problems in providing a satisfactory service to the city dwellers with its limited resources and
a poor management plan. An inadequate information base (regarding quantity, type and
characteristics of wastes), poor operation and maintenance of service facilities and above all lack of
civic awareness on the part of a section of the population are adding up to the deteriorating
environmental situation. Absence of monetary assets, institutional shortcoming and inappropriate
choice of technology and absence of public consciousness have made solid waste management
services far from satisfactory6. City administrations in many urban areas and towns are as of now
over-troubled, and just can't take care of the developing demand for municipal administrations,
bringing about unhygienic and smudged living condition in the areas 7.

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In developing countries, particularly in Bangladesh the volume of waste generated has been quite
significant. It has been estimated that 14 thousand tons of solid waste are being generated in 522
urban centers per day 8-11. Bhuiyan (2010)12 argues that the projected rise in solid waste per capita in
2025 will be around 0.60kg12. With such an enormous volume of solid waste only 56 percent are
13
collected and dumped as per the report . So it is time to address these issues urgently. A healthier,
cleaner city life, comfortable and sound environment are rightful demand for people dwelling in city
areas as municipality collects tax for waste management services.

The objective of this study was to increase efficiency and effectiveness of waste collection
and management system which will help in decision making regarding zone wise waste collection
and management. It was aimed to scrutinize the present state of waste generation, characteristics and
its management practice in DNCC area. The study also looks at the impact of solid waste disposal on
Environment along with ways to sustainable waste management for healthy environment. In
addition, it was estimated of the total quantity of household waste generation and density of waste
generated in Dhaka North city Corporation (DNCC) and to understand the strength of the process
development of healthy environment.

METHODOLOGY
The methodology of the study included empirical field observations, field level quantitative
data collection through inventory, questionnaire survey, formal and informal interviews, secondary
data collection by published-unpublished sources, using SPSS software for primary data analysis,
related statistical tests for analyzing/quantifying data, and laboratory analysis also conducted for
understanding the impact of MW.

The questionnaire was selected as a means of collecting information from Household

Consumption and Expenditure (HCE) by a field survey of DNCC area and the information was also
collected from different staffs of the selected five wards. Close and in-depth-interviews were also
conducted for understanding the problem and issue related to the study.

Study area
Dhaka metropolitan area is the fourth most densely populated city in the world with a
population of 18.89 million. Corporation’s area of Dhaka City i.e., North and South lies between
23.69° and 23.89° North latitudes and 90.33° and 90.44° East longitudes 7 with covering about 127
km2 of land area. Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) is situated in the northern part of Dhaka
City which consists of 36 wards. It lies between 23°44' to 23°54' East Latitude and 90°20' to 90°28'
North Longitude with covering an area of 196.22 km2This study is conducted in the Dhaka North

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City Corporation (DNCC) area (Zone-1: Uttara) (Figure 1).The Zone-1 (Uttara) of DNCC is consists
of two wards and thetotal area is about 11.570 km14.

Figure 1. Study area Zone 1 (Uttara) under DNCC15

Data Collection
The study comprises solid waste generated by household sector and managed by the local
community. It is focused on primary data survey in 2019 and 100 households were interviewed by
means of questionnaires. Questionnaire measured keeping eye on existing solid waste practices as
well as individual knowledge, attitudes, concerns, eagerness to participate on the general issues of
solid waste. Interviews were carried out among people who are the guardian of house and face to
face at respondents in absence of main person of the homes throughout the Area. Interviews are run
between 10.00 am and 12:00pm in two days. The research at the 100 households was gained by
sampling technique. The sample distribution was selected such that it was reflected on different
socio-economic circumstances (High income, Middle income & low income). The survey was run
across the group of the population and personal interviews were used to collect data.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Dhaka City Corporation collects municipals waste which is accumulated in DCC’s bins or
container. About 8886 cleaners are employed for street sweeping and collection of waste found in

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 Masudul Alam et al., IJSRR 2020, 9(4), 28-36

places other than dustbin, roadside, open spaces, ditches etc. by hand trolley. It has 2080 hand
trolleys for primary collection of waste. DNCC has 115 demountable container carrier trucks for
collection of accumulated waste in 414 containers and 242 open trucks to collect waste from
municipal bins at different locations. Manpower allocation to collection and transportation in DNCC
and DSCC is summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Number of Cleaners and Drivers in DNCC and DSCC

Number
Workers category
DNCC DSCC
Cleaners 3586 5300
Waste management drivers 108 183
Central Garage 1 1
Number of waste carrying container 180 270
Number of waste collection trucks 115 235

Source: Field Survey, 2019

Though residents are responsible for bringing their waste to the waste collection points,
NGOs/CBOs/private sector provide primary collection services to collect waste door-to-door and
transport the waste to dustbins, containers, or sometimes to vacant lands, by rickshaw vans. The city
corporations are responsible for secondary waste collection to remove waste from its dustbins or
containers, and transport the waste to final disposal sites. During study it was found that all garbage
of the DSCC is transported to Matuail landfill site while the DNCC uses Amin Bazar landfill site.
According to DNCC total waste generated per day in DNCC is 3000 tons and 70 percent of waste is
organic (Table 2).

Table 2. Physical Composition of Solid waste

Volume of waste Types
Types of waste organic inorganic
Total waste 2100000 900000
percentage of total waste 70 30
Average per capita waste gene
.53 .22
rated

During the field study 100 households taken as Sample from the wards of the 5 zones of
Dhaka North City Corporation in which it revealed that vegetables contribute the most percent
(Figure 2).

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Seasonal Composition of wasteElectronic

fruits waste
9% 3%
Plastic
4%
Polythene
11%
Furniture Vegetables
Paper 6% 56%
8% Fish and
meat
3%

Figure 2. Composition of solid waste in DNCC

Waste generation changes all the year round. Out of 100 households, it was revealed that
highest amount of waste generates in rainy season (45%) whereas 31 households responded during
all over the year and 20 households believed festival may accelerate. During the study households
were asked about the process or sorting of waste number and size of waste bins. Out of 100
households plastic bucket has been used by 49 households. Reason behind using bucket is to its low
cost, durability and convenience of movement and handling. Besides, 18 household were using
plastic bags and drums and 8 were polythene respectively.

Roads and open space cleanliness: Households’ opinion:

The study has showed the households’ opinion regarding cleanliness of roads and open space
in their area. Out of 100 households’ give their opinion about the cleanliness activities by the city
corporation (Figure 3).

No
comment Cleaned
18% regularly
Never 19%
cleaned
8%
Cleaned
irregularly
Cleaned but 34%
interval is not
known
21%

Figure 3. Households’ thinking regarding roads and open space cleaning

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Projection of waste growth at DNCC

It is evident from the facts and figures that the waste growth will continue in this rate if the
present rate of waste growth persists. In 2025 the waste growth will be 68.86% (Table 3)

Table 3. Waste generation since 2014 and projection for 2025 (%)
Year Generation (%)
2014 7.5
2015 13.31
2016 24.75
2017 21.93
2018 30.555
2019 36.028
2020 41.501
2021 46.974
2022 52.447
2023 57.92
2024 63.393
2025 68.866

CONCLUSION
The generation of waste is increasing by coping with the rapid growing population. Dhaka
City Corporation (DNCC and DSCC) is responsible for the waste collection and transportation where
an integrated and sustainable approach is necessary to introduce in Dhaka city. The uncollected and
unplanned waste creates a heavy drainage problem especially in the monsoon season. The open
disposal and random dumping system is unhygienic for environment where modern technology and
equipment is needed. Vast portions of waste do carry the compostable content which can be recycled
in a scientific and sustainable way.

To ensure the sustainable solid waste management in Dhaka North City Corporation the
following measures can be adopted for the purpose of strengthening the process development of
healthy environment, (i) Educated and high income group have more waste generation, therefore
awareness is also essential for them, (ii) Compulsory environmental education in school curriculum.
Every house is one school and every mother is a teacher of her child. So mother can teach her child
about environment pollution and necessity of neat and clean environment, (iii) Voluntary
involvement in various campaigns and solid waste management activities, (iv) Publicity of waste
management practices through distributing of leaflets, posters and mass media support, (v) Practicing

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 Masudul Alam et al., IJSRR 2020, 9(4), 28-36

source separation of waste and proper application of provided facilities, (vi) Educate women about
necessity waste separation and storage facilities, and (vii) Educate peoples about the sanitary habits
in the various religious institutions.

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