Community-based solid waste management

In Bangladesh solid waste management is the responsibility of the urban authorities (Municipalities and City Corporations). However, in accordance with the Paurasava Ordinance, 1977 citizens are responsible for primary disposal of solid waste, i.e. household to waste bins while urban authorities responsible for secondary disposal (waste bins to final disposal point). This sharing of responsibility is not fully understood in the Bangladeshi urban context. As a result citizen mismanagement and misplacement of waste takes place in the process of disposing of waste to the bins. The urban authorities, for several valid reasons, fail to dispose the waste properly. Garbage strewn over urban centers testifies to the inadequacy and inefficiency of the present system. The urban environment becomes polluted due to the ill management of solid waste. The worst thing of present waste management system is that the poorer class suffer the most from the system. Only a community based waste management system can take care of all of these problems.