Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Management System in a Developing Country

This study represents a few basic steps of municipal solid waste management practiced in the six major cities of Bangladesh, namely, Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, and Sylhet. A six-month field study was conducted to identify the solid wastes management steps such as storage at source, separation, on-site storage, collection, transportation, treatment, reuse, recycling, and ultimate disposal. This study addresses the role of the city authority to meet the demand of the city dwellers in solving this emerging socioenvironmental issue and the initiatives taken by some nongovernmental organizations and community based organizations. The problems and constraints of the solid wastes management system are also identified to find a sustainable management concept for the urban areas of Bangladesh. 1. Introduction During the last few decades, the problems associated with municipal solid waste (MSW) management have acquired an alarming dimension in the developing countries. High population growth rate and increase of economic activities in the urban areas of developing countries combined with the lack of training in modern solid waste management practices complicate the efforts to improve the solid waste management services. In developing countries, the per capita generation of the solid wastes in urban residential areas is much less compared with the developed countries; however the capacity of the developing countries to collect, process, dispose, or reuse the solid wastes in a cost effective manner is significantly limited compared with the developed countries [1]. The wastes generated by human settlements and the associated problems are similar in the developing nations with variances between regions and locations based on geographic, sociocultural, industrial, infrastructural, legal, and environmental factors [2]. In Bangladesh, like in most developing countries, the solid waste management has so far been ignored and least studied environmental issues. Recently the concerned stakeholders have begun to consider this area to be an essential component to protect human health and nature. The urban population in Bangladesh has increased at a very steep rate of about 6% per year and concentrated mostly in six major cities, namely, Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, and Sylhet. Current estimations showed that about 13% of total population and 55 to 60% of total urban population are living in these cities [3]. In these cities, the city authority, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), community based organizations (CBOs), and private