Municipal solid waste management of Gazipur city corporation

Abstract

Municipal solid waste is the waste that is generated from households basically kitchen waste with other household wastes. Municipal solid waste management denotes the process by which the waste of an area being disposed and managed; sometimes treated as this could be hazardous to the human life. Municipal solid waste has become a great problem in the developing countries specially in the urban areas due to rapid growth of population. The amount of waste generation in the major cities of Bangladesh namely Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and sylhet is total 7690 tons daily which is a hige amount to manage. The per capita generation of municipal solid waste is ranged from 0.327 to 0.485 kg/capita/day while the average rate is 0.387 kg/capita/day as measured in the six major cities. Many studies have been done on the management of municipal solid waste but none in Gazipur city. So we conduct a study based on the municipal solid waste management in Gazipur city. This study has been found that total 1747.12 tons of domestic solid waste are being generated daily. The responsibility of the management is of then is mostly an authority in common system and a few on the house owner. Of the total quantity, 50-60 percent is collected efficiently and the rest is left. The moisture content (45% to 55%) by weight are much higher than that of the waste in industrialized countries. The domestic solid waste of Gazipur City Corporation has a high organic content (85% to 95%) and has a lower proportion of combustible matter. This waste, which remain uncontrolled, are dumped in open spaces, street and drains, clogging and drainage system, which create serious environmental degradation and health risk. There are a few dumping spaces a few kilometers away from the city corporation. In spite of having these dumping zones, the space is not sufficient enough. The waste which have market value, are being reclaimed or salvaged for recycling. The unmanaged solid waste should be collected and managed properly and the authority should be more concerned about that feature for making the city healthiest and livable.