An in-depth review on municipal solid waste management, treatment and disposal in Bangladesh

This in-depth review covered most of the studies on municipal solid waste (MSW) management, treatment and disposal in Bangladesh. The urban centers together generate about 23,688 tons/day of MSW and about 70% of which is organic solid waste (OSW). The average moisture content and collection efficiency is 50% and 56%, respectively. The widely practiced waste disposal systems are open burning and dumping. However, transformation of crude dumping into sanitary landfills was initiated in 2008 and still continued. Some NGOs are operating pilot scale compost plants to produce organic fertilizer from OSW. Biomass, agricultural wastes, discarded tyre and animal residues are utilized to generate renewable energy/fuel through anaerobic degradation, pyrolysis and gasification. There is a great potentiality of energy recovery from MSW through incineration but such project is still under processing. Many informal entrepreneurs are recycling recyclable solid waste (RSW). About 0.5 million people depend on recycling business for their livelihoods and save around USD15.29 million/year disposal cost. In addition, it diverts RSW from dumpsites and reduces requirement of new dumpsites or landfills.