'Awareness a must for proper waste disposal'

"Primary waste collection is the responsibility of individuals, not the Dhaka City Corporation," said Sohel Faruquee, chief conservancy officer of the DCC.

"But as we do not have the capacity to place dump bins in front of every house, there should be a systematic collaboration among residents, community-based organisations (CBO) and the city ward officials," he added.

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The seminar on Solid Waste Management was organised to share the outcome of a primary waste collection experiment in Mirpur ward No. 6 and ward No. 65 in Lalbagh, implemented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the DCC. They embarked on the project on July 15 last year to explore an effective and sustainable method.

The seminar was geared towards an audience of ward commissioners from across the city as the project will be expanded.

Mamtazur Rahman Chowdhury, a representative of the Ward 6 committee, suggested fixing the garbage collection time, regular coordination meetings among the CBO, ward commissioner and the residents and the separation of household waste into two categories.

Chowdhury believes 50 percent of the local residents will cooperate in primary waste collection during the first year of the project and by the fifth year, the ward will be free from solid waste pollution.

A representative of ward 65 agreed and stressed that even distribution of services is necessary.

JICA officials called for introducing the wheelbarrow on narrow roads and modifying the rickshaw van for optimal waste collection.

An organogram was also presented to assign different responsibilities for DCC, JICA, the ward Committee, CBO, primary waste collectors and residents.

However, the system will be decentralised so that the primary responsibility falls on the communities, the DCC officials said.

DCC official Sohel Faruquee presented a ten-year goal, highlighting the need for guidelines, training manual, tools and financial support for the primary waste collectors.

He also called for a monitoring system over primary collection service providers.

Many ward commissioners expressed encouragement and commitment to the programme, although some expressed reservations about suggested funding methods such as microcredit.

Responding to this concern, Faruquee said, "Primary waste collection is sustainable through motivational training; money is not required for community work."

JICA officials hope that an effective waste management can be implemented in all 90 wards by 2012.