DSCC eyes waste-to-energy project within months
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) is working on plans to recycle waste into electricity, gas, compost fertiliser and diesel, Administrator Md Abdus Salam said on Saturday.
“We are focusing on how we can quickly generate electricity through waste recycling. We believe we will be able to move to the initial stage in this regard within a few months,” he said.
He made the disclosure while inaugurating a “Floating Market in Exchange for Waste” at Swarighat on the Buriganga River in Dhaka. The initiative was jointly organised by Bidyanondo Foundation and DSCC.
Abdus Salam said waste should not be treated simply as garbage but converted into a resource.
He said the corporation was simultaneously working to raise public awareness and develop recycling systems to produce electricity, gas, compost fertiliser and diesel.
“Then waste will be transformed into a resource. It will no longer be left scattered everywhere. On the one hand, we need to raise public awareness, and on the other, we need to recycle waste to produce electricity, gas, compost fertilizer and diesel. Our activities in this regard are already underway,” he added.
The DSCC administrator said the Buriganga had once been the lifeline of Dhaka but plastic, polythene and other waste now floated in the river. He said the floating market initiative aimed to raise awareness about preventing river and environmental pollution and promote the concept of treating waste as a resource. “We know that all the problems of the Buriganga will not be solved through today’s initiative.
But it will send a message to the public that we want to do this and that we need to do it,” he said.
He urged people living along both banks of the river and those whose businesses depend on it to act responsibly to protect the Buriganga.
“The Buriganga has reached a point where failure to protect it will leave a bleak future,” he said.
Abdus Salam said steps were also being taken to make the Dhaleshwari, Shitalakkhya, Balu and Turag rivers around Dhaka navigable.
“Necessary steps will be taken to restore the river-based transport system that previously connected Dhaka,” he said.
Under the initiative, plastic and other waste collected from the river and its banks will be accepted through a designated process.
The DSCC plans to gradually expand the programme to all 75 wards, while a pilot project is being developed in Kamrangirchar in coordination with Bidyanondo Foundation to explore ways of recycling waste into usable resources.
Abdus Salam also urged citizens to remain vigilant against dengue, saying city corporation activities alone could not prevent the disease.
He urged people not to allow coconut shells, air-conditioner water, stagnant rooftop water or other accumulated water to remain, saying the destruction of mosquito breeding grounds could prevent dengue to a large extent.
Dhaka-7 MP Hamidur Rahman, speaking as the special guest, said the initiative primarily sought to encourage people to collect plastic and other waste from the river and surrounding areas.
He said exchanging waste for food and essential goods would increase environmental awareness and promote the idea of treating waste as a reusable resource.
Hamidur Rahman called for the initiative to continue regularly with the participation of low-income people living along the river.
“If a designated waste collection point and office are established, it will be possible to collect waste while also meeting the food and essential-goods needs of low-income people,” he added.
Under the programme, people can exchange collected waste, after weighing, for essential goods including rice, lentils, flour, cooking oil, fish, chicken and noodles.
