OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OF SOLID

WASTE MANAGEMENT IN BANGLADESH

Submitted by-Group-01
GHT- 402 Environmental Geology
4th year BS Honors

Department of Geology
University of Dhaka
Submission Date- 20 December,2020
 GROUP- 01
Mubtasim Ishraq Antoo (SH-070-008)
Asif Alve (SH-070-016)
Nowshin Laila Nisha (SK-070-028)
Ruhun Nahar Kakon (SN-070-033)
Osman Daniel (EK-070-034)

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Table of contents

Abstract _______________________________________________ 3
1. Introduction _________________________________________ 4
2. Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh _________ 5
3. Occupational Health Issues of Solid Waste Management in
Bangladesh ____________________________________________ 7
3.1 Health Impacts on Child Waste-Pickers ___________________________________________ 7
3.2 Health Issues Related to Solid Waste from Hospital_________________________________ 7
3.3 Sewage Waste related Health Issues _____________________________________________ 7

4. Environmental Health Issues of Solid Waste Management in

Bangladesh ____________________________________________ 8
4.1 Impact of Solid Waste Disposal on Environment ___________________________________ 8
4.2 Impacts of Solid Waste Disposal on Health ________________________________________ 9
4.3 To Eliminate Environmental Pollution __________________________________________ 10

5. Conclusion _________________________________________ 11
References ____________________________________________ 12

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Abstract

Solid waste management is a grave concern for Bangladesh as by 2025 waste generation per
capita will be 0.75 kg/capita/day and the total amount of waste will reach 21.07 million tons
per year. Around 8000 tons of solid waste is being created every day from the six significant
urban areas of Bangladesh and Dhaka city alone is producing about 70% of the absolute waste.
The per capita waste age is around 400 g/day. A vastly populated country like Bangladesh
which is developing rapidly and because of the rapid development, emergent urbanization is a
key factor. This factor plays a pivotal role in generating solid waste as the major part of solid
waste is industrial waste. Women of childbearing age and children comprise the majority of
waste pickers of many developing countries like Bangladesh. There are about a few thousand
workers in each city related to waste picking management among which 50% of them are
children under the age of 15. Half of the children are girls. 20% of them encounter sick injuries.
The most important diseases that are spread by Biological agents, which pollute water and food
and cause alimentary infections like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, infective hepatitis, polio,
ascariasis and hookworm diseases. Sanitation related waste workers in Bangladesh are
generally marginalized, living in congested colonies, slums or informal settlements with very
limited access to basic services. However, attempts have been taken to diminish the solid
wastes and build a sustainable waste management system in Bangladesh. Incineration is an
effective way which diminishes the city's strong waste by about 90% by volume and 75% by
weight. Also, recycling is a way which implies reusing a few parts of the waste that may have
some economic worth. Source reduction is another way of decreasing solid waste. Solid waste
is a serious threat and it can be dealt with by adequate and sustainable solid waste management.
Finally, the paper has apprised the issues and challenges of sustainable solid waste management
practices and proposed the way forward for Bangladesh to have sustainable solid waste
management.

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 Occupational and Environmental Health Issues of Solid Waste
Management in Bangladesh
1. Introduction
The result of emergent urbanization and the frequent changes in the lives of modern people
have reached a brink of generating excessive quantities of waste which has now been declared
as a pronounced threat in our already degrading environment. However, in the midst of all the
chaos, “Waste Management” has become a popular term globally in the recent years. The term
“Waste Management” implies the profuse and vigorous schemes that manage and dispose of
wastes. The procedure comprises discarding, destroying, processing, recycling, reusing or
controlling wastes. Waste collection is a service that is generally provided by the government
for free. The collected wastes are disposed of by various methods that include landfill
compaction and incineration. Especially solid wastes are incinerated to reduce their volume by
80 to 95% which are then converted into gas, steam, ash, and heat. The world generates 2.01
billion tons of municipal solid waste annually of which 33% is not managed in an
environmentally safe manner. The prime objective of waste management is to reduce the
amount of unusable materials and to avert potential health and environmental hazards.
“Waste not, want not.” This saying is coming to reality recently as global leaders and local
communities alike increasingly call for a fix for the so-called “throwaway culture.” Globally,
there have been various examples of waste management that have come to light. Bank Group
is working to address plastic pollution at every stage of the plastic value chain. Since 2000,
The World Bank has committed over US$ 4.7 billion to more than 340 solid waste management
programs around the world. Currently US$1 billion worth of ongoing projects in solid waste
management and other activities that prevent plastic pollution are ongoing. In East Asia, the
current epicenter of plastic pollution, many countries are emerging as champions in the fight
against marine debris. For example, Indonesia plans to reduce marine plastic waste by 70 per
cent by 2025 and has developed a new US$2.3 billion waste management program.
Bangladesh, like any developing country around the world, has contributed to the generation
of huge amounts of solid waste annually. In 2012, waste generation in Bangladesh was around
22.4 million tons per year. There is an increasing rate of waste generation in Bangladesh and it
is projected to reach 47, 064 tons per day by 2025. The total waste collection rate in major
cities of Bangladesh such as Dhaka is only 37%. Bangladesh has had a traditional waste
management system since its independence in 1971. In spite of having efforts from the
Government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), waste management is far from the
desirable status in Bangladesh. Even in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh has proved to be
a nightmare for waste management as the amount generated per day is approximately 4124
tons, of which almost 40% goes uncollected. Because of low awareness, lack of motivation,
financial, and technological paucity, 40-60% of wastes remain uncollected and are not disposed
of in a safer manner. This paper is associated with such issues that the people of Bangladesh
face in solid waste management and how it affects the people, flora and fauna in the
environment as well as the environment itself.

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2. Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Bangladesh
A country with a huge population like Bangladesh with a population of around 17 crore faces
several kinds of new and old problems every day. Among other problems the recycle and proper
disposal of daily produced mass volume of waste is a tough job for the authority and their
staffs. Even the rate is increasing in an alarming percentage to disposal owing to the rapid
urbanization. The present state of solid waste generation is 16015 tons per day which ended up
at 5.84 million tons annually and the average waste management is 55% in different urban
areas. Due to the unsatisfactory waste management, the huge uncollected waste both of organic
and inorganic pollutes the local environment continuously resulting in water, air, land pollution
all around. Eventually, this kind of activities poses a great threat to public health. For the
betterment of the people and environment, measures based on environmental management with
an effective and sustainable model can be beneficial and a better approach to solid waste
management.
The basics of Environmental Management Measures(EMM) are primarily associated with
externalities, open access resources and public goods. Failure to follow up those basics gives
rise to the environment pollution, natural resources destruction and reduction in environmental
resources. A tabular data of weight percentage of different kinds of waste produced throughout
different cities gives a horrible scenario.

The EMM has three instruments which are

• Regulatory Instruments (RIs)
• Economic Instruments (EIs)
• Suasive Instruments (SIs)
As there are three major elements in human elements such as fear, financial interest, moral and
ethical sense, the three EMM instruments can be used in solid waste management which can
not only affect the waste management but also the human nature. Moreover, the state of Dhaka
city is not good at all to handle all those stuffs those are meant to be under control but still in
uncontrollable manner. Everyday people from all walks of life are dumping waste all around
the city starting from tea stall to high raised corporate buildings and there is no any specific
place for dumping waste. Lands in Dhaka city are getting a hard nut to crack for functional
uses. Everyone is like grabbing or filling lands and making high raised just to fulfil their desires.
Whether the waste is more or less, being one the most densely populated city in Bangladesh
Dhaka is facing most of the major problems like less dumping lands, ineffective waste
management etc. Solid waste produced daily in Dhaka city is more than 4000 metric tons of
which 200 metric tons are hospital and clinical waste. More specifically, 15 to 20 percent of
medical wastes are highly harmful for human lives. Though the nature of solid is changing with
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time and development, plastic and polyethene also occurring problems towards human health,
environment and drainage system.
Before taking measures, one must sort out the problem more discreetly for a precise solution
which can last and coup with time and change. Amount of solid waste produced around the
city should have a close to clear estimation for applying any measure to manage and dispose
those waste. Estimated solid waste generation from report varies widely ranging from 1040
tons per day (1985-86) to 5000 tons per day (1997).
For making a long-lasting solution, the gov’t should predict about the future waste generation
from estimates of future per capita waste generation. For predicting waste generation, a simple
procedure is used by Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies.
There have been two tiers in urban local governmental bodies named City Corporation and
Municipalities. Conservancy department is liable for solid waste management with cleaning of
streets and drains. Local government bodies mainly hold major solid waste managements and
removing as well as disposing solid waste is done by City Corporation in Bangladesh. There is
no independent law of introducing the solid waste as a problem in Bangladesh. The only local
law that gives idea about disposal of municipal waste is the Dhaka City Corporation Ordinance
1983. Again, due to the shortage of funding, the local government cannot perform effective
collection and disposition of waste. There are act and rules under laws which interact with the
environmental issues.
The Environmental Management Measures (EMM) are practiced by many countries like China,
Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and many other countries. They are transforming
the waste management system into an economical sector to enrich the overall control over solid
waste. A stable waste management can result in a growth in environment and public health.
Till now, there has been limited effective solid waste management system to collect, recycle,
reduce, reuse, transform and dispose. The lack of awareness comes from the root where the
wastes are coming means the residents and their blind sight in reducing waste. They are not
only unaware but also reluctant to pay the bill for those who collect the waste as they are not
usually satisfied with the service they are provided.
Let alone other cities, people in Dhaka city being educated still not following any cleanliness
measures. Economic tools like taxes, fees, service charges can be applied to the residents which
is actually easy to implement helping in controlling the management units. Once people are
economically benefitted, they will not turn back to nothing. Usually the local authority only
charges for collection rather than disposal which is held more importance than collection as
that may end up covering some lands. There are some regulatory instruments such as
technology standards, pollution standards, land use restrictions, environmental guidelines and
so on to enhance the waste management. When something is related to morality, people usually
raise their brow to know whether something is about them or not. So moral values in
accordance with waste management can be given as training, awareness activities etc. More
community is required to control this uncontrollable system.
Entrepreneurs can play a vital role in changing the face of the waste management by turning
that into a profitable fact. We are social beings where we can adopt with changes once that is
made for our betterment. Taking strict measures is a dire need in the first phase at any cost. As
we live and breathe, we are making our lives according to our comprehension.

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3. Occupational Health Issues of Solid Waste Management in
Bangladesh
The workers related to solid waste management in Bangladesh are open to many health hazards
due to their ignorance and improper safety procedures followed by the authority. The health
issues in them for long term exposure to solid waste can be due to many biological, chemical,
physical and psychological factors. Women of childbearing age and children comprise the
majority of waste pickers of many developing countries like Bangladesh. Numerous surveys
and studies show that, there exists relationship between exposure to waste materials and health
risks. The workers of our country have been found with the highest risk along with India and
Nepal. Mainly, very poor people are used by the traders offering some soft loans or even an
accommodation. As they have no skill and education, they get involved in these risky works.
These issues may develop in a solid waste management worker in different ways depending on
the environment and the age of that worker.
3.1 Health Impacts on Child Waste-Pickers
There are about a few thousands worker in each city related to waste picking management
among which 50% of them are children under the age of 15 according to a survey. Half of the
children are girls. They work from dawn to dusk at the landfill site and sell whatever they can
salvage (glass, metal, plastic, paper, animal bones) to traders at a nominal price. Due to
impoverished social status, these child laborers are bound to work in this unhygienic situation.
Such basics like water and sanitation are not in there available for them. As a result, these child
workers often suffer from acute and chronic illness such as nausea, dizziness, weakness,
swelling of the limbs, headache, back pain, frequent fever, skin diseases, and many respiratory
diseases. Younger children tend to suffer more from health problems compared to the older
ones and girl children suffer from more health problems compared to boys.
3.2 Health Issues Related to Solid Waste from Hospital
Hospital waste is one of the major health management issues in Bangladesh. As medical waste
contains highly toxic metals, toxic chemicals, pathogenic viruses and bacteria, which can lead
to pathological dysfunction of the human body, it presents a high risk to the waste pickers.
Almost 85% of the sharp injuries are occurred between their collections to disposal. More than
20% of them encounter sick injuries. The most important diseases that are spread by Biological
agents, which pollute water and food and cause alimentary infections like cholera, typhoid,
dysentery, infective hepatitis, polio, ascariasis and hook worm diseases. Flies and mosquitoes
from the waste in there can transmit insect borne diseases. In a great extent, cancer and HIV
can also be spread from the biomedical waste into the waste pickers.
3.3 Sewage Waste related Health Issues
Sanitation related waste workers in Bangladesh are generally marginalized, living in congested
colonies, slums or informal settlements with very limited access to basic services. Generally,
lower caste and religious minorities are more likely to engage in collecting garbage and
cleaning toilets, emptying pits and septic tanks, often face social exclusion and discrimination.
They can be easily affected by loose motion & vomiting, blood dysentery, pain in the stomach.
They face a greater risk of infection, injury and death but hardly have any insurance coverage
or access to health services. The sewage workers are exposed to extreme dirt from the society
and thus they can be vulnerable to many chronic and fatal diseases. But as they are so poor and
no one wants to help them willingly they just have to suffer and wait for death.

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4. Environmental Health Issues of Solid Waste Management in
Bangladesh
Wastes are the material that are not required and are not usable economically with additional
processing. It might be in the form of strong, fluid, and gas. They create from the human
activities for example, farming, industry, domestic exercises, and so on. As indicated by the
origin, waste is named domestic, mechanical, industrial, business, clinical, development,
atomic, and agricultural. As per properties waste is inert, poisonous, and inflammable. On the
off chance that these wastes stay untreated, it prompts air, water, soil, or strong-waste
contamination. Consequently, solid waste management is fundamental [1-3]. Urban population
and industrialization have been increasing rapidly and these are creating a serious hassle on our
natural resources, which is a big challenge for sustainable development. The main cause of ruin
of the environment in most cities is disorganized management and dumping of waste. (Ahmed
and Rownok, 2006).
On average, an estimated total of 23,687.78 tons of waste was generated every day in urban
areas of Bangladesh in 2014. This adds up to 710,633.34 tons every month, or 8,527,598.88
tons per annum. In 2005, less waste was being created in the metropolitan zones of Bangladesh,
and consequently less ozone depleting substances were transmitted. While in 2005 Bangladesh
was transmitting 64.46kg of CO2e per capita every year from the waste it produced, by 2014
that figure had expanded to 86.38kg of CO2e per capita every year. This implies that in 2005
the normal metropolitan family unit in Bangladesh was radiating 304.25kg of CO2e every year,
with a normal family size of 4.72 people, though in 2014 the normal family in Bangladesh was
discharging 380.07kg of CO2e every year, with a normal family size of 4.40 people. Presently
producing more waste than previously, the individuals of Bangladesh are moreover as of now
radiating more CO2e than in the past through existing waste administration rehearses
(Bangladesh Waste Database 2014).
4.1 Impact of Solid Waste Disposal on Environment
Effect of Solid Waste Pollution Solid waste can pollute air, water and soil, and leave various
environmental impacts, and cause health hazard, due to improper handling and transportation.
These adverse effects are seen on health and environment, some of them are as follows [4-6]:
• Open air dumping creates unhygienic and poses enormous threat to the people.
• Causes aesthetic problem and nuisance due to nauseating pungent odor.
• Promotes spreading of diseases.
• Leachates from refuge dumps percolates into the soil and contaminate underground
water.
• The situation further aggravated by the indiscriminate disposal of Hospital and Clinical
Waste.
• Presence of extremely high level of Total and Facial coliform.
• Pollute water bodies.
• Waste products when burnt like plastic and rubber pollute the atmosphere with noxious
fumes
• Carbon dioxide and Methane produced from solid waste are extremely harmful to the
environment.

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 • Gases are produced in the landfills through aerobic and anaerobic decomposition of
organic compounds, which are threat to the environment.
• Organic solid wastes emit obnoxious odor on their decomposition and make the
environment polluted.

Figure 1 : Waste generation is increasing rapidly over recent years.

4.2 Impacts of Solid Waste Disposal on Health

Modernization and progress have had a lot of hindrances and one of the primary parts of a
concern is the contamination it is causing to the earth – be it land, air, and water. With the
increment in the worldwide populace and the rising interest for food and different
fundamentals, there has been an ascent in the measure of waste being created day by every
family. This waste is at last tossed into city squander assortment focuses from where it is
gathered by the zone districts to be additionally tossed into the landfills and dumps. In any case,
either because of asset crunch or wasteful framework, not the entirety of this waste gets
gathered and shipped to the last dumpsites. In the event that at this stage the administration and
removal are inappropriately done, it can make genuine effects on wellbeing and issues the
general climate [5].
waste that isn't appropriately managed, particularly extra-and other fluid and strong waste from
families and the network, are a genuine wellbeing danger and lead to the spread of irresistible
sicknesses. Unattended waste lying around pulls in flies, rodents, and different animals that
truly spread sickness. Typically, it is the wet waste that deteriorates and delivers an awful scent.
This prompts unhygienic conditions and subsequently to an ascent in the medical issues. Plastic
waste is another reason for illness. In this way, unreasonable solid waste that is produced should
be constrained by taking following preventive measures: [5-6].
• During handling and transfer of hospital and clinic wastes, disease transmission may
take place.
• Co-disposal of industrial hazardous waste with municipal waste can expose people to
chemical and radioactive hazards.
• Water and food contamination through flies cause various diseases in humans as
dysentery, diarrhea and amoebic dysentery.

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 • Waste dumped near a water source also causes contamination of the water body or the
ground water source.
• Rats dwelling with infectious solid wastes may spread diseases like plague,
salmonellosis, trichinosis, endemic typhus etc.
• Direct dumping of untreated waste in rivers, seas, and lakes results in the accumulation
of toxic substances in the food chain through the plants and animals that feed on it.
• Disposal of hospital and other medical waste requires special attention since this can
create major health hazards.
• Water supply, if gets contaminated with pathogens present in solid wastes, may result
in cholera, jaundice, hepatitis, gastro enteric diseases etc.
• Improperly operated incineration plants cause air pollution and improperly managed
and designed landfills attract all types of insects and rodents that spread disease.
• Workers working with waste containing chemical and metals may experience toxic
exposure.
The role of plastics
The unhygienic use and removal of plastics and its consequences for human wellbeing has
gotten a matter of concern. Hued plastics are destructive as their color contains hefty metals
that are exceptionally harmful. A portion of the unsafe metals found in plastics are copper,
lead, chromium, cobalt, selenium, and cadmium. In most industrialized nations, shading
plastics have been legitimately restricted.[6]
4.3 To Eliminate Environmental Pollution
Incineration: It is the way toward burning solid waste in an appropriately planned heater under
reasonable temperature and working conditions. It diminishes the city strong waste by about
90% and 75% by weight.[6]
Recycling: It implies reusing a few parts of the waste that may have some economic worth.
Reusing conserve assets, reduce the energy utilized to fabricate and furthermore diminish
contamination.[6]

Figure 2 : Recycling industry in Bangladesh

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Source reduction: It is one of the principal ways to decrease solid waste. This should be
possible by utilizing less material when making an item, reusing items, planning items bundling
to diminish their amount. Separately one can decrease the utilization of unnecessary things
which cause strong waste. [6]
To eliminate environmental problem, the following measures could be taken [4] :
• Increase the facility of house-to-house collection in all areas of DCC.
• Proper methods of waste disposal have to be undertaken to ensure that it does not affect
the environment around the area or cause health hazards to the people living there.
• Assurance of regularity in collection and transportation of solid waste from the
household, bins and primary dumping stations.
• Separation and collection of separated waste separately from the house by increasing
awareness.
• Increase awareness for reduction of solid waste generation.
• Implement proper environmental laws.
• Transportation of solid waste during nighttime instead of daytime. If it transports during
daytime use cover on the waste transportation vehicle to reduce the odor pollution and
other associated problems.
• Increase the salary and safety of the labor who working in the solid waste management
system.
• Organic waste can be composted and then used as a fertilizer.
•

5. Conclusion
From the above study it is reasoned that it is the immense need of today is to get freed from
solid waste contamination. It can be controlled adequately through solid waste administration.
Solid waste is destructive for the climate, whether it exists in a solid, fluid, or vaporous form.
Solid waste contamination is caused predominantly through urbanization and through
mechanical waste. It causes different illnesses in human as cholera, bacillary dysentery,
diarrhea, plague, trichinosis, endemic typhus, jaundice, hepatitis, gastro-enteric infections and
so on. Certain chemicals if released untreated, e.g. cyanides, mercury, and polychlorinated
biphenyls are highly toxic and exposure can lead to disease or death. Subsequently, the
management of solid waste is important, it helps in lessening solid waste contamination and
establishes contamination-free and clean climate. Different strategies are polished to control
strong waste contamination as fertilizing the soil, reusing, burning, pyrolysis, removal,
landfills, and so forth. Consequently, strong waste management diminishes or controls the
strong waste contamination and its perilous impacts. Urbanization and Industrialization went
with population development are the central elements for expanding pace of solid waste age in
Bangladesh. Around 8000 tons of solid waste is being created every day from the six significant
urban areas of Bangladesh and the Dhaka city alone is producing about 70% of the absolute
waste. The per capita waste age is around 400 g/day. Endeavors are being paid to improve the
arrangement for the transportation, reusing, source reduction, decomposition, incineration,
disposal, and land filling. Be that as it may, with restricted funds and authoritative limit, it has
been truly hard for the public authority to guarantee productive and proper conveyance of
strong waste assortment and removal services to us.

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