Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the most densely inhabited cities in the world. Over 10 million people, of which three million live in slums, inhabit an area of only 360km2. The population generates around 6,000 tonnes of solid waste each day, at least 80 per cent of which is organic, and around half of this garbage is left to rot on the streets in the heat and humidity. The resulting stench, rodents, and clogged drains pose a serious health risk.

In 1994, two urban planners approached Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) with their concerns about the growing problem of waste in the city. They outlined their ideas for solving the problem, which included getting communities involved in composting. Unconvinced, an official challenged them: “If community-based compost plants are such a great idea, why don’t you do it yourselves?”

Rising to the challenge, Iftekhar Enayetullah and Maqsood Sinha established Waste Concern, a non-government organisation.

Establishing a network of community-based composting plants that convert household organic waste into bio-fertiliser and creates job opportunities for the poor by involving them in recycling activities was the linchpin of their strategy. “We had to develop a system that would create income opportunities, as well as take into account the space constraints of the settlements,” Iftekhar explains.

A year after the meeting with DCC, Waste Concern started a pilot composting plant on donated land in Mirpur, Dhaka, in order to demonstrate how kitchen scraps could be turned into a nutrient-rich, sellable product. It adapted a barrel system found in Sri Lanka, whereby every four to six houses in a slum share a barrel for composting waste.

The success of the Mirpur pilot project convinced all stakeholders, including the government, that the model was workable. Under its Sustainable Environmental Management Programme (SEMP), the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry urequested that Waste Concern replicate its model. Three years later, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Waste Concern did so in four other poor communities around the capital.

Following this expansion, Waste Concern employed 120 former waste pickers to collect organic household waste using small, bicycle driven collection carts. The waste is then transported to community processing centres and turned into compost over a period of 55 days. To generate revenue, Maqsood and Iftekhar arranged for fertiliser companies and small nurseries to purchase the biofertiliser, thus meeting the need for efficient and environmentally sound ways to manage refuse. The organic manure produced is also a tonic for which Bangladeshi soil is gasping.

Learning through posters and interactive training sessions, resident associations were quick to embrace the new idea: to separate trash at the source, provide organic waste for composting and generate employment opportunities for the poor. The yearly income of about Tk1,200 per barrel (£13) is shared between participating households. Community monitoring of each neighbourhood’s project is achieved through the establishment of a local ‘Green Force’, which acts as a watchdog for environment and solid waste related activities.

But there was another problem: with the price of land in Dhaka having skyrocketed, authorities were wary of letting public land fall into the hands of private individuals or organisations. However, a sufficient number of government-owned and vacant lands within the municipality were identified, and government agencies were convinced to back community-based projects, therefore entering into the first ever municipal-private partnership in waste management in Dhaka City.

A community-based resource recovery project was then established on land provided by DCC – along with the necessary infrastructure. Funding was provided by UNDP under SEMP, whilst Waste Concern provided the necessary technical advice and training. It was stipulated that after one year of training on operation and maintenance of the composting plant was completed, Waste Concern would hand it over to DCC and then act as the implementing agency.

Waste Concern is now treating 200 tons of garbage a day at six different locations in and around Dhaka, and is lobbying government to incorporate recycling and composting in the bylaws of municipal authorities.

It’s all about a collective effort, says Maqsood: “Our experience demonstrates that working together in partnership, local governments, private businesses, social organisations and communities can pool their resources and expertise to discover innovative ways for tackling the staggering waste problem in a comprehensive, efficient and sustainable way.”