Rapid Growth Feeds the Problem

Dhaka’s Waste Crisis is becoming one of the most serious side-effects of the city’s fast expansion. As Dhaka grows—economically, demographically, and infrastructurally—the accompanying waste has grown even faster. Dhaka’s waste crisis is a problem that touches public health, the environment, governance, and quality of life.

Over 24.6 million people now live here, with nearly 15,000 new arrivals each day. With population density surpassing 23,000 persons per square kilometre, providing basic services—including waste collection and disposal—has turned into a herculean challenge. As the city continues to expand at an unprecedented rate, its inability to cope with mounting waste threatens to overshadow progress.

What’s Causing Dhaka’s Waste Crisis

The heart of Dhaka’s waste crisis lies in the sheer volume of solid waste generated each day. The city produces more than 6,500 tons of solid waste daily, a number projected to reach 8,500 tons by 2032. This waste comes from households, industries, hospitals, markets, and informal sectors. The problem is made worse by the fact that hazardous and non-hazardous waste are mixed together. Plastics, metals, organics, medical waste, and industrial chemicals often end up in the same stream, overwhelming the system and preventing effective recycling or safe disposal.

The collection and transport system is another major weakness. While on paper the city claims to collect waste from every ward, in practice about half of Dhaka’s waste remains uncollected. Many neighbourhoods lack consistent services, forcing residents to dump waste in open areas, drains, or rivers. Transfer stations are poorly placed, and the vehicles used for transporting waste are often open-topped, spilling garbage onto roads and into waterways. This not only causes environmental damage but also creates severe hygiene issues for the public.

Landfills, the backbone of Dhaka’s disposal system, are also under severe strain. The city relies mainly on two sites: Aminbazar and Matuail. Both cover roughly 100 acres, but neither was built with modern technology such as leachate management systems or daily cover methods. As a result, they have become environmental hazards instead of solutions, releasing toxic liquids into the ground and generating uncontrolled methane gas that pollutes the air.

Equally worrying is the mismanagement of hazardous waste, particularly from hospitals and industries. Medical waste such as syringes, chemicals, and infectious materials often end up mixed with ordinary household trash. Industrial waste, including heavy metals and solvents, is similarly mismanaged. This increases the risk of contamination in water bodies and soil, putting both human and ecological health in danger.

Impacts of Dhaka’s Waste Crisis

The impacts of Dhaka’s waste crisis are felt across multiple dimensions. On the public health front, mismanaged waste contributes to a range of illnesses. Open dumps attract flies, rodents, and mosquitoes, spreading diseases like dengue, diarrhoea, and respiratory infections. Hazardous materials such as medical sharps and chemicals also increase risks of poisoning and infection, especially for waste workers and children who often play near dumping grounds.

Environmental damage is equally alarming. Landfills without proper linings leak toxic liquids into soil and groundwater, while plastics and organics dumped into rivers and canals choke aquatic ecosystems. Methane gas, a by-product of decomposing organic waste, escapes into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. Residents near landfills and dumping sites frequently complain of unbearable odours and air pollution.

Economically, the city pays a heavy price. The costs of waste collection, landfill maintenance, and health treatment for waste-related illnesses run into millions of taka every year. Moreover, unmanaged waste discourages tourism, lowers property values, and creates a negative image of Dhaka in the eyes of investors. Productivity also suffers when people fall sick or when businesses are disrupted by clogged drainage systems and flooding.

The crisis also deepens social inequality. Poorer communities often produce less waste but suffer more from poor collection services and environmental pollution. Informal waste workers—who play a vital role in recycling plastics, metals, and paper—work in unsafe conditions without protective gear. They are rarely recognized or supported by city authorities, yet they carry the heaviest burden of the system’s failure.

What Has Been Done So Far

The government and city corporations are not blind to Dhaka’s waste crisis, and several initiatives have been launched. A master plan titled Towards Zero Waste was introduced in 2019, focusing on reducing, reusing, and recycling. The plan envisions composting organic waste, producing biogas, and creating recycling hubs across the city.

Both the Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporations have invested heavily in waste management. In recent years, more than Tk 3,323 crore has been spent on collection, landfill expansion, and new technology. Dhaka South has focused on expanding the Matuail landfill into a more sanitary facility, while Dhaka North has experimented with waste-to-energy projects. However, these projects often face setbacks due to the mixed nature of waste, which reduces its suitability for energy generation.

Why Efforts Are Falling Short

Despite these investments, Dhaka’s waste crisis continues to grow because efforts fall short in key areas. Waste segregation at the source remains almost nonexistent. Without separating recyclables, organic materials, and hazardous waste, the entire stream becomes mixed and contaminated. This makes recycling and energy projects inefficient or outright impossible.

The existing infrastructure also lags behind. Landfills lack the proper safeguards to prevent leakage and pollution. Transfer stations are insufficient, and transport vehicles are outdated. This gap in infrastructure magnifies the scale of mismanagement.

The dependence on the informal sector is another weak link. While informal workers are essential for collecting and sorting waste, they often lack training, equipment, and formal recognition. As a result, the sector remains unsafe and inefficient, with little accountability.

Finally, rising consumer habits, especially the increasing use of plastics and disposable packaging, worsen the problem. Public awareness about waste reduction is still low, and behaviour change campaigns have yet to achieve significant impact.

What Needs to Happen Now

The path forward requires both systemic reforms and individual responsibility. Mandatory segregation of waste at the household and institutional level should be introduced and enforced. By separating recyclables, organic materials, and hazardous waste, Dhaka can drastically improve recycling rates and reduce the load on landfills.

Upgrading landfills into modern sanitary sites is also essential. This means installing proper liners, daily covering, and leachate management systems to prevent environmental damage. At the same time, investment should be made in composting facilities and biogas plants to handle organic waste, turning it into useful products instead of pollution.

Waste-to-energy projects can still play a role, but they must be carefully planned and supported with the right technology. Dhaka’s waste stream is high in moisture and low in calorific value, so conventional incineration may not work. Instead, innovative approaches like anaerobic digestion or refuse-derived fuel could provide safer alternatives.

The city must also integrate informal workers into the formal waste management system. Providing them with protective equipment, training, and fair wages would not only improve safety but also increase efficiency.

Public education is another vital piece of the puzzle. Citizens need to be made aware of the environmental and health impacts of waste, and encouraged to adopt sustainable practices such as reducing plastic use, reusing containers, and composting at home. Schools, community groups, and media campaigns can play a major role here.

Lastly, strong regulation and governance must underpin all of these efforts. Authorities must enforce laws around industrial and medical waste, allocate adequate budgets, and ensure accountability at every level of the waste management chain.

Unless the city takes bold steps, Dhaka’s waste crisis will continue to undermine health, environment, and economic progress. By enforcing segregation, investing in modern facilities, empowering waste workers, and raising public awareness, the city can turn waste from a liability into a resource. The time to act is now, before the piles of unmanaged waste bury the achievements of Dhaka’s development.