A study on solid waste management in Khulna city

Abstract

As a populous and rapidly growing country, Bangladesh has been facing major environmental crises over the years. Ineffective management of solid wastes especially in the context of urban landscapes constitutes on the most pressing problems that contributes to systematic deterioration of the environment. As a representative of rapidly expanding urban area of the country, Khulna city faces full burnt of this problem. So the problem needs to be carefully studied and observed. Major objectives of the study are: (1) To review the current status of SWM in Khulna city (2) To assess the major problems and limitations (3)To explore ways of improvement in SWM in the study area. Major methods that have been used in the study are Key Informant Interview (KII), Focused Group Discussion (FGD), Secondary Literature Review, Official Documents Review and Personal Observation (PO). Key Informant Interview and Focused Group Discussion were held in Khulna city area with the participation of the relevant stakeholders to be aware of the present situation of solid waste management, existing problems and to find out probable solution of the problems. With a view to doing the research, the review of relevant circular, office orders, manuals, regulations related to solid waste management have been done. Selected major findings of the study include the following: (1) The current status of solid waste management in Khulna city shows that the present waste management system is not a satisfactory one rather it is environmentally harmful and hazardous to public health and safe human living. Thereby it requires an improvement from the perspective of environment and sustainable development. (2) The major policy and operational level problems of solid waste management can be summed up as Organizational constraints, Lack of community participation, Non integration from informal sectors activity, Inefficient collection and disposal practices, Absence of resource recovery component and Lack of human resources and vehicles. Besides, this research generates some recommendations on the basis of the exploratory analyses and explanations. These include the following: Organizational Capacity building, recruiting skilled human resources and introducing of modern vehicles, Local level recycling, introducing of resource recovery process, Sanitary landfill can bring fruitful changes to existing solid waste management system in KCC area.