Abstract:
One of the most pressing demands on services of Sylhet City Corporation of Bangladesh from
urban dwellers is better waste management. The conservancy section is responsible for sweeping
the streets, collecting rubbish and disposing to a landfill, drain clearing. Sweeping is carried out
by 129 permanent sweepers located in main streets of the city. The City Corporation estimates it
collects between 60 and 80 tonnes of rubbish hom its bins (152 dust bins) and open pomts (60)
for disposal daily where as around 180-200 tonne5 of rubbish is produced every day The lanclfill
is located a Shol1 distance outside (about 7km) of the city, on 17 acres of land owned by the city
corporation. The land is approximately 3 metres below the level of the road. The site is not
engineered and has been used for 5 years. The City Corporation has no Waste Strategv to
improve the cleanliness of the city and reduce the effect of the city's rubbish on the environment.
During the research programme a household survey was done to explore the Clt)' dwellers
opinion in tackling the conservancy problems. The survey was cancer survey and done in three
electoral words of the city. Total 3036 households were surveyed. The waste generation rate is
0.34 kg/cap/day Most of the households (73%) produced 1-2kg daily Among the household
waste, 34.7% is coming from cooking, 27% is coming from homestead activities and the rest
covers cosmetics, toilet, education and cloth. The survey shows that 68.3% of total household
waste is compostable, 11.7% is recyclable and the rest 20% is disposable.
Only little of the total households (II %) preserve waste for recycling About half of the total
population (51 %) in the surveyed area is enjoying additional facilities from some Community
Based Organizations (CBOs). The households have been bearing Tic 10 to tk 200 monthly for
the CBO who works for waste collection in their locality Most of the residents (934%) of the
surveyed area are quite ignorant abollt the waste management policy ofSylhet City Corporation.
The conservancy activities should include the 100% primary collection of the waste, optimum
utilization of waste through intensive recycling, awareness raising on waste education as well as
waste reduction.
The conservancy activities of Sylhet City Corporation should be decentralised in live blocks
rather than one centralised area. In order to ensure 100% primary collection of the waste, City
Corporation should encourage the pal1icipation of NGOs and CBOs, and facilitate these
organisations to dispose their collected waste in some designated secondary transfer points
timely rather than a number of small dustbins.
Recycling and reclamation should be strongly promoted for conservation of resources and
prevention of environmental degradation The city corporation will relive from the heap of
garbage and its huge amount of budget will be saved and recycled product will also increase the
fertility of the soil. The reduced quantity of rubbish will also increase the life of the final
dumping point
