Waste Is Money

Solid waste generation is in increasing trend with the growth of urban population. The country is generating about 8000 tons of solid waste each day from the major cities of which Dhaka city alone is contributing about 70%. Citizens themselves often do not follow the rules set by the authorities. They dump garbage on roadsides ignoring waste bins and designated spots for garbage disposal causing suffering for both the environment and themselves.

On the other hand, Unemployment and poverty are another two great problems in Bangladesh. With the increasing growth of population these two problems are also increasing. Around 17% still live in extreme poverty here.

This idea plans to collaborate these two things to help create employment opportunities for the marginal people as well as make the environment clean.

Rapid urbanization and population growth are largely responsible for increasing rate of solid waste generation in Bangladesh. A considerable portion of wastes, 40-60%, are not properly stored, collected or disposed in the designated places. The composition of the entire waste stream is about 74.4% organic matter, 9.1% paper, 3.5% plastic, 1.9% textile and wood, 0.8% leather and rubber, 1.5% metal, 0.8% glass and 8% other wastes. This often requires costly removal and disposal which is not easy at all in a low-income country like Bangladesh. This is causing a great threat to the environment and public health.

Moreover, Unemployment and poverty are two great problems in Bangladesh. The rate of unemployment was 2.5 percent in 1995-1996 but it increased to 4.5 percent in 2010. 1/3 of the households in Bangladesh still live below the upper poverty line and 17% live in extreme poverty.If sufficient employment opportunities are not created present declining rate of poverty may further revert back.

This solution is able to address both problems by reducing unemployment rate among the marginal population by engaging them in waste management.

The focus of this concept is mainly the unemployed marginal population of Bangladesh. They are mostly deprived of proper education and do not have any certified skills. As a result they struggle tremendously to manage a regular decent work for themselves. This eventually leads them to beg and get involved in various illegal activities causing serious social degradation.

So,if we can only create an easy way for them to earn their livelihood where they can participate easily without being asked for any extra skills,the standard of their lives will improve a lot.

Waste management is such a platform where these people can find a decent work for themselves and earn money easily while contributing to saving the environment.

Moreover, this concept will also inspire the people in general to put their garbage in place rather than dumping it recklessly when these waste will bear a value.

Being a lower middle income country, we still can not afford the costly mechanised waste management processes to treat our garbage. As a result, they end up being on roads, footpaths and landfills causing serious environmental pollution. Landfills at Aminbazar and Matuail are reportedly producing a large amount of leachate and have been polluting the environment of their nearby areas. Leachate is the liquid that drains or leaches from a landfill and is very harmful for arable lands, water resources and aquatic lives.

But even though we lack in mechanical support to treat these garbage, we still have a option to tackle this problem and that is our manpower. These is a huge amount of marginal population who can not find any work to earn their livings. They rather beg or get involved in illegal activities to earn money causing serious issues for them and the society as well. We can engage these people in the waste collecting process simply by offering an amount of money in exchange of every KG of garbage. This way people will willingly participate in collecting waste and earn some money at the same time. It can further ensure full-time job opportunities for them in the processing and sorting of these waste as this does not require any special skill just a simple training will do and thus we will be able to lessen the unemployment problem as well as environmental pollution by untreated waste disposal.

These collected wastes later can be turned into biogas and compost at a very cheap rate though simple biogas-plants, as around 74.4% of our wastes are organic in nature. The derived biogas then can be used to produce energy such as heat or electricity which can be added to the National Grid and the compost can be used as fertilizer in fields which will boost food production by enriching the soil quality.

Thus,this concept can ensure work facilities for the marginal community and also help us to keep our environment clean. And all these things can be done without any use of costly machinery installation which makes it suitable for a developing country as ours.

People will earn in exchange of waste and thus help both the environment and themseleves

To get initiative help to make a change.

UN Environment