SUMMARY

Waste generation in huge amount is key feature of modern industrial and urban
economic system, where increasing the production is a prime goal. Waste management is
the mechanism of collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal of waste
materials and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, aesthetics or
amenity. Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations, for
urban and rural areas, and for residential and industrial generators. Management for non-
hazardous residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the
responsibility of local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous
commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.
In Bangladesh the municipal authorities are mainly responsible for managing the waste.
There are three systems of solid waste management, one is the ‘formal system’ where
municipal authority is responsible for solid waste management other is the ‘community
initiatives’ which is based on primary collection on solid waste by community based
organization and finally ‘Informal system’ represented by the large informal labor force
involved in the solid waste recycling trade chain dealing mainly with inorganic waste.

Formal system is managed by municipal authority and based on the conventional

concept of collection-transport-dumping of waste. In this system municipal authority
simply collects the waste from the communal dustbins and transport at the final disposal
side. The cleaners and sweepers are engaged in the conservancy - Department of
municipalities to manage the huge amount of waste.

In all the urban local bodies of Bangladesh an estimated 17000 MT of waste is

generated every day; of which only 40-50 %.could be managed and rest remains
unmanaged. The rapid growth in population over the last two decades has created
tremendous pressure on urban services, utilities and shelter affecting low-income people
adversely. The poverty Reduction strategy paper (PRSP), of the government of
Bangladesh gave special emphasis on waste management. The strategy has also focused
on segregation of waste at source, efficient Collection & disposal, development of public-
private partnership for waste management and promotion of recycling reduction & reuse
of waste etc.
In Bangladesh the food & Vegetables Constitute the highest portion in the
municipal solid waste. The generated food waste varies from 70%-80% of total solid
waste, but there is no separate Collection system for different waste. Food waste is
generated from many sources, such as food manufacturing and processing sectors,
markets, institutions hospital, restaurant & house holds etc. Food and vegetables market
produces a huge amount of food waste everyday, separating & managing these large scale
food waste can result in both economic and environmental benefits.
In food processing sectors in Bangladesh the most prevalent and most polluting
industries such as shrimp processing ,juice, paste, jelly, baking ,potato chips etc.
Depending on the type of food waste, some of it is used as feed for farm animals, cattle’s,
sheep, pigs, and other animals to consume some food wastes. Other types of food waste
may be best used as compost feed.

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 As the food waste is organic in nature, this huge amount of organic solid waste
can be converted in to compost. Many developing countries do not depend on the method
of landfills for disposal of waste, they use composting, incineration and other advanced
technology for the purpose of appropriate disposal of municipal waste in addition to
landfills.
Composting is an easy and affordable method. This method can only deal with
organic portion of waste. Composting is a process of biological decomposing of organic
solid waste where chemical fermentation takes place by micro-organism under an aerobic
Condition. compost comes out through natural process, compost is a complex pattern
involving hundreds of different organisms including bacteria, fungi, worms & insects.
Organic components in waste that include food and vegetables may constitute 70% to
80% of total waste. Segregation of 80% from the total waste for composting helps reduce
the volume to a substantial level. Remaining 20% of waste requires less land area for
dumping.
Importantly use of organic waste as raw materials of compost reduces the
environmental impacts caused at the sites by odor, dust, flies, mosquitoes, insects, germs
& diseases. Massive use of chemical fertilizer and intensive agriculture causes prolong
depletion of organic contents in the farming soil. Application of compost in the
agricultural land can supplement the deficiency, add necessary nutrients in the soil and
sustain productivity.
Returning of organic waste to the soil would significantly contribute to
enhancement of sustainability of agriculture product. As such substitution of chemical
fertilizer by bio-fertilizer has thus got potential market demand in an agro-based country
like Bangladesh.

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OVERVIEW OF BANGLADESH

Bangladesh, officially the peoples Republic of Bangladesh is a country in south Asia. The
country is in a tropical Zone on the globe, with six seasons in the year namely, summer,
monsoon, and autumn, Late Autumn, Winter & Spring.
Bangladesh is a developing country with about 150 million people
in an area of 148,300 Sq Km. The density of population stands at 881 (BBS 2003) per Sq
Km. The rate of birth is about 3 percent. It is very difficult to divert a significant amount
of its resources to address any particular problem, which may be the management of
waste or rendering other civic services to the citizens. This is why many important areas
of necessity in Bangladesh are left unattended.

The global location has the effect on the characteristics of the climate of
Bangladesh such as high temperature, seasonal variation of rain and excessive humidity.
Its climate is subtropical and tropical with temperature ranges from 11°c to 29°c in winter
and 21°c to a top of 40°c in summer. The overage annual rainfall varies from 160 cm to
400 cm at different areas. The government undertakes plan for any development paying
due attention to the seasonal variation of the country. Seasonal variation influences the
quality of waste in terms of moisture contents, weight and ingredients. In the months of
June and July additional waste generated from the supply of large amount of seasonal
fruits.

Basically Bangladesh is a rural based country. Rural agricultural economy still playing a
dominant role in total economy. After independence economy of Bangladesh started
centering at the urban places in the sectors of business, trade commerce & industry.
Conversely agricultural economy could not hold back the rapidly expended population at
the rural areas of Bangladesh. The changing scenario encouraged huge migration from
rural places to the cities and towns. The cities and towns could not get ready with
necessary service facilities to accommodate the huge inflow of population from rural
areas

The rapid growth in population has resulted in a huge demand for processed and
packaged foods. As a result of this demand, large amounts of water, air, electricity and
fuel are consumed on a daily basis for food processing, transportation and preservation
purposes. Although not one of the most heavily polluting, the food industry does
contribute to the increase in volume of waste produced as well as to the energy expended
to do so.

Waste Management in Bangladesh: Current situation

Waste disposal is an emerging problem in Bangladesh. There are 522 urban centers in the
country including 254 municipalities and 6 City Corporations. The increase in waste
generation can be primarily attributed to factors such as rapid rate of urbanization, rural-
urban migration, changing consumption pattern and high population growth rate. While
the magnitude of the problem is relatively small and manageable in rural areas, it appears
to be growing significantly in urban areas in recent times. Among the major

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environmental concerns confronted today in the urban areas of Bangladesh are problems
relating to proper management of solid waste. Lack of financial resources, proper policy,
institutional weakness, improper choice of technology and lack of public awareness about
solid waste management has rendered solid waste management services far from
satisfactory.

Since waste of all forms are primarily the creation of normal human living, it is to
be expected that the more people living in a particular physical space, the more acute will
be the problem of waste. With a population density of over 800 people per square
kilometer, management of waste, especially solid waste, is a big problem for Bangladesh.
Rapid population growth will only further accentuate the problem in the future.
However presently, a number of commendable steps have been taken by the
government to promote low cost, appropriate decentralized community based composting
technology based on socioeconomic and climatic condition of the country.
Characteristics of solid waste:
The composition and resulting character of waste are always dependent on the
source of its generation. Each city has a unique blend of activities and resulting waste
characteristics. Experience shows that residential areas of Bangladesh generate
approximately 60% of wastes.
In urban areas of Bangladesh solid waste has a very high organic content. Table 1
shows that solid waste of Dhaka city has also similar amount of organic matters High
moisture and organic content coupled with high prevailing temperatures make frequent
removals necessary to avoid bad smell due to rapid decomposition of waste.

Composition of Waste:
Table 1
Waste composition Bangladesh (Dhaka) (% by weight)
Food and vegetable wastes 70
Paper Products 4
Plastics 5
Rags
Metals 0.13
Glass and ceramics 0.25
Wood 0.16
Garden waste 11
Other (stones, dirt etc.) 5
Moisture 65
Source: Ahmed, M.F. and Rahman, M.M. 2000

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 A sum of 70% food & vegetables, 4% paper products and 11% Garden wastes
comes to about 85%. This is the organic components of the wastes. This 85% organic
waste is biodegradable and the rest is non-biodegradable.

Waste Generation in Bangladesh:

Comprehensive waste characterization studies have not been conducted in
Bangladesh. In addition none of waste disposal sites in the country is equipped with
weighbridge. However, recently Dhaka city corporation (DCC) at its waste disposal site
has installed a weighbridge to measure the amount of waste being disposed.
Consequently, there is limited reliable information related to quantity of wastes generated
in the urban areas of Bangladesh. Due to lack of information, estimates were made of the
amount of waste generated. The estimates were based on the information available from
other countries and cities having similar socio-economic condition to those prevalent in
Bangladesh.
Approximately 16380 tons of waste is generated in the urban areas of Bangladesh
in the year 2004. The waste is generated from different source (domestic, commercial,
industrial, street sweeping, health care facilities etc.).
Solid waste generation in Bangladesh is growing proportionately with the growth of
urban population.
Table-1 shows the growth in solid waste generation over the years.

Year Total urban Urban Population Waste Generation Total Waste

Population (% Total) Rate (kg/cap/day) Generation
(Tonne/day)
1991 20872204 20.15 0.49 9873.5
2001 28808477 23.39 0.50 11,695
2004 32765152 25.08 0.50 16,382
2025 78440000 40.00 0.60 47,064

Source : ADB, 2000

Existing Practice of solid Waste Management in Bangladesh:

3 (three) ‘systems’ of waste management are coexisting side by side in

Bangladesh. One is the ‘Formal System’, where municipalities/city corporations are
responsible for solid Waste Management (SWM). ‘Formal system’ is based on the
conventional system of collection transportation-disposal of waste carried out by the local
authorities. In this system the concept of transfer stations, resource recovery,
minimization and recycling are absent.
Next is the ‘Community Initiative’ that is based on primary solid waste collection
by CBOs and NGOs, ‘Community Initiatives’ of house-to-house waste collection in
neighborhood started due to lack of satisfaction with solid waste management service.
Finally Informal System represented by the large informal labor force involved in
the solid waste recycling trade chain. Figure-1 shows the existing system of solid waste
management in the urban areas of Bangladesh. Partnership between these three systems is
needed to promote effective solid waste management system in the country

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 WASTE GENERATION Self-Disposal or Illegal
(16,380 tons per day) Dumping
On the roads, low lying areas, and in drains
-Domestic
-Commercial
-Industrial Recycled by informal sector
-Street Sweeping
-Health Care Facilities

STORAGE Recycled by Informal sector

Temporary Storage at the Source of
Generation

COLLECTION
Community bin System
Demountable Container Recycled by informal sector
House-to-House Collection
(Community initiative)

TRANSPORTATION
Open Truck Collection
Demountable truck
Tractors & trailers

WASTE DISPOSAL
Unsanitary crude dumping Recycled by informal sector
FORMAL SYSTEM

Waste Generation Rate: 0.5 kg/capita/day

Collection Efficiency by formal System : 40%-50%
Recycling by Informal System : 10-15%
Self Disposal or Illegal Dumping (uncollected) : 35%-50%)
Solid Waste Management Cost : 5-20% of the total annual budget

Figure-1 : Existing Practice of Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh

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Technology used to manage solid wastes in Bangladesh:

Traditional labor-intensive methods are used for solid waste management in Bangladesh.
Due to lack of specific guidelines to manage waste in the country, official initiatives to
promote segregation of waste at the source is almost absent. Waste is simply collected
from the designated communal dustbins and demountable containers, transported by open
1.5-5 ton capacity trucks, demountable containers, tractors and trailers and disposed in a
crude unsanitary way in nearby low-lying areas of the cities/towns.
Collection system is inadequate and involves 4 or 5 times of handling of a
particular waste before it is finally disposed at an open dumping site. The waste
collection system relies on communal containers located along the roadsides. Some of
these containers are stationary concrete bins that are to be entered by workers, who
shovel the waste into baskets for manual loading into open trucks. Other containers are
demountable that are mechanically loaded by demountable trucks. The premises of this
system are that resident will walk to the nearest bin with their waste and put it inside.
Unfortunately, that rarely happens. Many residents dump their waste on the ground near
the site at increasing distance from the bin as the amount of waste increases throughout
the day, loath to walk over any waste to get to the bin.
Waste recyclers further complicate the situation by going through the waste for
recyclables and scattering it further. Collection coverage of waste is inefficient and as a
result 35%-50% of waste remains uncollected in the urban areas of Bangladesh.
Uncollected waste accumulate on open lands, are piled along streets, fill drains and clog
sewers. Given country’s sub-tropical monsoon climate these uncollected wastes provide
ample habitat for flies, cockroaches, rats and other disease vectors. The stagnant water in
the clogged drains provides breeding ground for mosquitoes; during flooding the health
consequences become enormous.
Recently due to infrequent collection of waste from the communal bins some
communities took the initiative to start house-to-house collection of waste from their
neighborhoods in several small and large cities of Bangladesh. Under this initiative
people pay for house-to-house waste collection service.
Local communities. CBOs NGOs and micro-enterprises are initiating these house-
to-house waste collection schemes.
These initiatives are creating new employment opportunity for the urban poor.
This concept being simple and is becoming popular to the people of the city.
Problem of uncollected waste in urban areas is most prevalent in low-income
neighborhoods, where 20% to 50% of the urban dwellers live. Middle-income and high-
income neighborhoods tend to take matters into their own hands, hiring their own
neighborhoods waste collectors and covering the necessary costs.
Toxic and hazardous waste from different sources ends up in the communal bins.
There is no separate collection system for these wastes in the city causing health risk for
the city as a whole. Due to scarcity of land in large cities local authorities have been
resorting to the practice of dumping garbage at certain selected locations without any
consideration to the adverse effects of such dumping.

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 Technology/Method Used to Manage Urban Solid Waste:

Activity Status in Bangladesh

Source Reduction • No official initiatives from the Government.
• Reuse and recycling is done informally by informal sector .
• Segregation of recyclable waste with economic value (such as
newspaper,
• Bottles, cans, glass, plastic, metal, rubber and different containers etc.)
is done at source by people and sold to buyers.
• Waste pickers for their survival retrieve Recyclables materials from the
source of waste, dustbins and dumpsites.
Collection • No provision storage exists at or near the point of source of waste
• Waste is collected in the following ways:
• Community bin System (brick, concrete or corrugated iron sheet);
• Demountable Containers;
• House-to-House Collection system.
• Designated Open Spaces
Transportation • Conventional open trucks, demountable containers and tractors and
trailers for the collection of waste.
• No provision of transfer stations to transfer waste from the smaller
collection vehicle to larger transport.
• Multiple handling of waste exists.
• Waste mixed with contaminated/infectious substance
• Transportation does not synchronize with the capacity of collection
points.
Recycling • Most recycling is done through the informal sector and waste picking.
Mainly localized market and imports of materials for recycling.
• Presently local government bodies are replicating waste Concern’s
model of community based composting in a number of cities
• Waste Concern (an NGO) took an initiative for a 700 tons/day capacity
composting plant at Mutual landfill site of Dhaka city.
Incineration • Not common or successful because of high capital and operation costs,
high moisture content and low calorific value of waste makes waste not
viable for incineration.
• At present few incinerators are used to manage health care related waste
in a number of town and cities.
Land filling • Usually open crude dumping is adopted. This system is most
unhygienic and inefficient.
• Causing problem to health and environment.
• Hospital waste, toxic waste and untreated industrial waste are also
disposed of at the municipal landfill.
Costs • 5-20% of annual municipal budget is used for Solid Waste
Management.

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 Institutional arrangement for waste management:

Presently, the solid waste management system in Bangladesh in not well organized.
However, efforts are under way to improve the organizational structure for solid waste
management in different cities/towns. For instance, Dhaka City Corporation has recently
established a Solid Waste Management Cell to improve the waste management services
in the city. In most of the city corporations and municipalities there is no separate
department for solid waste management. Solid waste management is organized and run
by conservancy section of the urban local bodies, whose prime responsibility is
maintenance of the sanitation system. The organizational structure of conservancy section
is shown in Figure-2. The number of staff for conservancy varies from city to town
depending upon the size of the city and the workload.

Chief Conservancy Officer (CCO)

(Only in City Corporations)

Conservancy Officer (CO)

Assistant Conservancy Officer

(ACO)

Conservancy Supervisors (CS)

Conservancy Inspectors (CI)

Figure-2: Organizational Structure of Conservancy Section in urban Local Bodies in Bangladesh

Problems of waste management in Bangladesh:

The main problems and drawbacks of solid waste management in the urban areas of
Bangladesh are as follows:
 Absence of national policy to encourage recycling practice:
 Lack of proper handing rules and standard:
 Lack of proper institutional setup in the local bodies to manage solid waste
properly:

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  Lack of finance, and inefficient tax collection:
 Incomplete and inefficient waste collection practice:
 Lack of access to municipal solid waste service by huge population:
 Shortage of suitable lands for final disposal of solid waste:
 Lack of public awareness about the health and environmental problems
associated with the solid wastes .and
 Lack of partnership between the public sector, private sectors, community people
and NGOs and CBOs.

Recent Development Regarding Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh

There have been several positive developments in the country to improve the solid waste
management situation in the urban areas of Bangladesh over the last few years, which are
as follows;
* Dhaka city corporation with support from the JICA has prepared a master plan for the
solid waste management of Dhaka city. There are four priority programmes of solid
waste management system, including social, institutional and organizational
improvements as well as technical and engineering aspects.

Programme A: Participatory Solid Waste Management

Programme B: Capacity Building of Collection /Transportation
Programme C: Final Disposal site improvement program
Programme D: Solid waste Administration and Management improvement

Policies and legal Framework:

At present there is no separate policy or handling rules for solid waste management in
Bangladesh. However. Ministry and forest is currently preparing a comprehensive solid
waste management handling rules for the country. The existing legal aspects relating to
solid waste management can be classified into two groups, which are given below.
National Legal Framework:
Environment Conservation Act, 1995 requires that before establishment of industrial
enterprise as well as undertaking of projects environmental aspects must be given due
consideration and prior environmental clearance is obtained. As such, for the purpose of
environmental clearance, the Environment Conservation Rules 1997 made under the
Act have divided industries and projects into four categories depending upon the
pollution load and likely impact on the environment. Apart from Environment
conservation Rules 1997 to improve waste disposal system the Government has recently
formulated some policies and plans, which are:
National Environmental Management Action plan (NEMAP) has been
prepared by the Ministry of Environment and forest (MoEF) of the Government of
Bangladesh in consultation with people from all walks of life. NEMAP has identified key
environmental issues and recommended measures to conserve. Improve and reduce
environmental degradation, promote sustainable development and generally raise the
quality of human life. NEMAP has recommended for actions in the areas of sanitation,
solid waste management, water supply and environmental awareness etc. Based on the

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findings and recommendations of NEMAP, the government has taken up projects like
community based solid waste management.
Urban Management Policy Statement, 1998, prepared by the Government of
Bangladesh has clearly recommended the municipalities for privatization of services as
well as giving priority to facilities for slum dwellers including provision of water supply,
sanitation and solid waste disposal.
National Policy for Water Supply and Sanitation 1998 prepared by the Local
Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development &
Cooperatives gives special emphasis on participation of private sector and NGOs in water
supply and sanitation in urban areas. Some solid waste and recycling related strategies
under this policy are given below:
• Local Government Bodies (City Corporations and municipalities) may transfer,
where feasible collection, removal and management of solid waste to the private sector.
• Measures to be taken to recycle the waste as much as possible and promote use
of organic waste materials for compost and biogas production.
• Private sector including NGO participation in sanitation is encouraged .
National Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Strategy 2004 prepared by
the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has identified waste sector as one of the
potential sectors for attracting CDM finance in the country. The waste sector options for
Bangladesh can be landfill gas recovery, composting. poultry waste, and human excreta
management using eco-sanitation and wastewater treatment.
Local Level Legal Framework:
There is no adequate legislation in the country to address the growing problems
of solid waste. In Bangladesh, solid waste management is entrusted with urban local
government bodies. The responsibility of removal and disposal of municipal solid waste
lies with the City Corporation and municipalities. The six city corporation Ordinances
and Pourashava Ordinance 1977 are the only local law that gives some idea about
disposal of municipal waste. These ordinances contain identical provisions relating to
solid waste management, Which are as follows:
 The pourashava or city corporation shall be responsible for sanitation of the
municipality/city corporation area and for the control of environmental pollution .
For this purpose the city corporation or pourashava may cause such measures to
be taken as are required by the ordinances.
 A pourashava or city corporation shall make adequate arrangements for removal
of removal of refuse from all public streets, public latrines, urinals, drains, and all
buildings and land vested in the pourashava of city corporation and for
collection and proper disposal of such waste.

 Subject to the general control and supervision of the pourashava/city corporation,

the occupiers of all other buildings and land shall be responsible for removal of
refuse from such buildings and Lands.

 The pourashava/city corporation may, and if so required by the governments shall

provide public bins or other receptacles at suitable places and by public notice,
require that all refuse accumulating in any premises or land shall be deposited by
the owner or occupier or such premises or land in designated bins or receptacles.

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  All refuse removed and collected by staff of pourashava/city corporation or under
their control and supervision and all refuse deposited in the bins and other
receptacles provided by the pourashava/city corporation shall be the property of
the pourashava/city corporation.
 A pourashava/city corporation shall provide adequate public drains in the
municipality/city area and all such drains shall be constructed, maintained, kept
cleared, and emptied with due regard to health and convenience of the public.
Best Practices:
1. Decentralized Community Based Composting in Dhaka by Through Public-
Private-Community Partnerships
In an attempt to recover the value from organic portion of waste, a research based
organization, Waste Concern, initiated a community based decentralized composting
project in Dhaka city in 1995. The prime goal of this project was to explore technical and
commercial feasibility of labor-intensive aerobic decentralized composting technique and
to promote the principle of 3Rs (Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle,) in urban areas of
Bangladesh. Activities under the project included house-to-house waste collection,
composting of the collected waste in a decentralized manner, and marketing of compost
and recyclables. The innovative approach and success of Waste Concern encouraged the
Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) of the Government of Bangladesh to select
the Waste Concern as a sub-implementing agency for the project “Community Based
Urban Solid Waste Management in Dhaka” with support from UNDP. Launched in
September 1998, Waste Concern is implementing their community-based program of
waste management in 5 areas of Dhaka city through partnership development with
government agencies, private sector and community groups. In 1999, partnership
agreement was signed between public agencies (Public Works Department and Dhaka
City Corporation), private sector (Map Agro) and Waste Concern to implement the
project..
• PWD and DCC have given Waste Concern permission to use their land and have
provided other logistical support such as water and electricity connections to establish
community based composting plants.

• Waste Concern provides capacity building and technical assistance by forming

waste management committees called “green force” establishing small-scale composting
units (1-5 tons per day capacity) and training communities to manage, operates, and
maintains the services.
• Waste Concern mobilizes the community and forms community groups and
organizes training programs selected community members-mostly women-undergo
hands-on training in waste separation, collection, composting and marketing of recyclable
material and compost.

A good market for compost exists in Bangladesh. Waste Concern helps the
communities sell their compost to a number of outlets such as fertilizer-marketing
companies and nurseries. Waste Concern has been selling its compost for $0.05- per kg.
Recently, Map Agro requested waste compost. Waste concern’s model relies on
community mobilization and capacity building to manage waste and ensure sustainability
of the project After a year of community mobilization and training, Waste concern hands

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over the project to the community but continues to monitor it for 3 years. The
community-based decentralized composting program, integrated with door-to-door
collection of solid waste, can yield appreciable savings for municipal authorities. Waste
concern’s model shows that only 15 of total waste has to be transported to the landfill site
by having decentralized community based composting plants.
The program has significantly cleaned up communities, created jobs for the
urban poor, reduced DCC’s waste management costs, and created business opportunities
for entrepreneurs. The project has become a model, which several city governments and
NGOs are trying to replicate.

Food processing Waste in Bangladesh:

(A) Shrimp processing waste:

In Bangladesh Shrimp waste consists mainly of shrimp heads and tail hulls. About 35%
by weight shrimp raw material is discarded as waste. Shrimp waste could be used as fish
or shrimp meal, poultry meal etc. In Bangladesh total shrimp waste estimated about
20000 MT. per year. Total waste processed by sun drying in open place about 5000 MT.
Therefore 25% waste has been processed however from the unprocessed 75%, a portion
has been dump into the river, after processing and a portion has been utilized for other
purpose such as:

 Directly as human food by cooking of shrimp head.

 Directly used as food for catfish, white fish culture pond or shrimp culture pond.
System.

Shrimp waste could be processed as several human food such as;

 Pettish(shrimp paste);
 Shrimp crackers and
Agricultural purpose such as fertilizer.

Relevant problems: Rapid expansion of fish and shrimp culture industry has created
a serious environmental and hygiene problem:
 Shrimp waste quickly becomes colonized by spoilage organisms and is rapidly
transformed into both nuisance and public health hazard;
 A major threat of aquatic pollution, which causes water borne diseases.

Recommendations:
 Allocate space for beheading of shrimp;
 Processing plant could maintain the raw materials quality as possible as fresh for
the further process of waste;
 Locally feasible and easy technology that might better than the traditional method
should be adopted.

(B)Agro -processing Waste:

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The agro processing industries in Bangladesh has evolved around domestically available
agricultural raw materials, such as fruits, spices, vegetables etc. The main agro-based
industry are fruit and vegetable processing, beverages. There is no statistics about how
much waste is generated from agro processing sectors .Agro processing industry produce
juice, jam, jelly, paste, potato chips etc. Waste generated from fruits and vegetables such
as, fruit skins and seeds, leaves are mostly used as cattle feed and the remaining portion
are dumped into municipal dustbins.

(C )Waste from Bread and Biscuit Manufacturing Industry:

The total number of food and Beverage Industries in urban areas of Bangladesh is about
18500 .The generated wastes mainly used as animal feeds and some portion disposed off
into the municipal dustbins. In Bangladesh ‘Haque Brothers’ is one of the leading
manufacturing company, producing 60 different kinds of Biscuits along with chips,
chocolate, candy. The main raw materials required for the production of biscuits are
flour, sugar, butter/fat and flavor. The production processes are:

Dao making Cutting Baking through Collection Packing

four chambers

The scrap or waste from Dao making to baking is recycled in production. The
waste from Baking to packing is sent to underground waste tank through covered drain.
The packing waste sweeps by sweeper which ultimately collected by Dhaka Municipal
corporation Waste collector.
Minimization of Waste from Food Marketing and processing sectors :

Reduce, reuse & recycle :

Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. It gets changed from one form to
another. This theory can be applicable in the case of waste. Internationally recognized
waste management hierarchy preserves that the first priority should be given to waste
minimization.
Waste from food marketing is the largest portion of the waste in Bangladesh,
which necessitate proper management with more scientifically keeping an eye to the
environmental hazard.

Recycling, reusing, treatment and disposal in this order may follow for
minimization of wastes.

Reduce : Reducing is choosing to use thing with care to reduce the amount of waste
generated.
The food waste may be prevented by-
 Improving food preparation procedure to reduce unnecessary discards;
 Keeping an eye on inventory to avoid food waste due to spoilage or dehydration;

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  Separating food waste for animal feed can help divert reusable food scraps from
landfills and provide a nutritious feed, usually at lower cost than traditional feed;
 Modern specification: specification for less hazardous and less packaging;
 Forecast production to reduce leftover;
 Store left over in freezers(Giving priority to food safety);
 Employee should be trained routinely to implement source reduction activities;
 Design a management strategy to reduce waste, prioritize waste reduction options,
and then develop an implementation schedule.

Reuse : Reuse involves the repeated use of items or parts of items which still have
useable aspects.
Example:
 Reusing sugar bags;
 Bottles/pots made of glass can be reused until these are broken.

Recycle :Recycle means the use of waste itself as resources. The resources when sorted
out from the bulk of wastes and used for producing the same thing or other item are
termed as recycle.
Recyclable materials from food processing industries as follows: -
-Glass : Glass can be reprocessed into glass bottles.
-Plastic : Plastic Containers can be recycled for numerous product.
-Steel Cans :Steel food cans can be recycled by the steel industries.
-Aluminum cans : Aluminum is one of the easiest materials to be recycled.
-Paper : Paper is also a recyclable material.

Benefits of Recycle:

o Provides job for waste pickers business for traders;

o In many cases recycling saves foreign exchange from importing the thing that can
be produced locally from wastes (For example - There is no mine of any ferrous
materials in Bangladesh, the mealier waste can substitute this.)
o Reduces the amount of waste that requires disposal.

Recycling of food waste through composting :

Composting is the natural process and recycling of organic material into a humus
rich soil known as compost. Composting is an easy and affordable method. Composting
can be used to recycle organic waste generated from food marketing and processing
sectors, food service providers, leftover food, napkins etc. Compost comes out through
natural process.
It is a biological decomposition of organic waste under controlled conditions.
Microorganisms Carryout this kind of biological decomposition. It then breaks down the
complex organic substances into carbon dioxide, water & residues.
Modern composting differs from that occurring - naturally only in the
intentional creation of conditions through the application of scientific knowledge and

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technology to promote rapid decomposition of organic material and to better control the
quality of the final product in an environmentally sensitive manner.
Composting meets dual purposes: to dispose of waste and to use the compost bio-
fertilizer which is also beneficial to agriculture and the environment.

The climate condition waste characteristics, waste composting and market

potentiality offer an ideal situation for composting of waste in Bangladesh.

Benefits of Compost :
• Avoids methane production and leach ate formation in landfills by diverting
organics from landfills into compost

• Reduces the need for chemical fertilizer;

• Reduces the need for more landfill space;
• Improves soil quality;
• Increases yield in some crops;
• Increases earth worm populations in soil;
• Saves municipal expenditure on solid waste management;
• Restore soil structure;
• Low capital investment.

Source reduction using food waste for animal feeding:

Separating food waste for animal feed can help divert reusable food scraps from
landfills and provide a nutrias feed, usually at a lower than traditional feed.
Feeding food by products directly to livestock offers several advantages over composting
and land filling.
-By product may be fed to livestock in their original form.
-By product can be fed year round. Feeding is not limited by weather conditions.

What should be done to handle food waste efficiently and effectively in Bangladesh?

• Understanding the impact of food waste on environment and minimize it from the
handling, processing, transport and dispose;
• Effective planning for sustainable Waste management in the food marketing and
processing sector;
• Distribute information through the media;
• Innovations in food processing technology;
• Development of food processing equipment;
• Food packaging and leveling requirements;
• Create communication networks between hauler, generators and computers.
• Marketing by product as animal feed;
• Establish regulations on safety concern (feed definition, nutrient guarantees,
transportation, storage requirements, handling, feeding management).

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References:
Huda ,Nurul,K.M ,Municipal solid waste management.
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B1189.HTML
A guide to Collection of wastes from source, A publication of Local Govt. Engg.
Department, BD.
www.wasteconcern.org

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