Municipal Solid Waste Management

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Solid waste management is an emerging issue as the world’s municipalities become increasingly affected by the huge generation of waste. According to the UNEP (2010), Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated worldwide an estimated 1.7 – 1.9 billion metric tons of waste. Rapid urbanization, industrialization and economic development are responsible for increased volumes of municipal solid waste. As a result, municipalities - typically the level of government responsible for waste management in cities - must provide effective and efficient solid waste services to their inhabitants. They often face problems beyond the ability of municipal authorities to tackle the problem (Sujauddin et al, 2008). This has been attributed to a lack of organization, …show more content…

Increasing population, booming economies, rapid urbanization and the rise in the community living standards have all greatly accelerated solid waste generation rate in developing countries at the municipal level (Minghua et al, 2009). According to ISWA and UNEP, (2002) “with … limited resources, only basic technologies for treatment and disposal, and deficient enforcement of relevant regulations, serious problems remain for municipal solid waste management of developing countries” (cited in Chen at el, 2010:716). To the United Nations (UN), rapid urban growth throughout the developing world has seriously outstripped the capacity of most cities to provide adequate services to their citizens. The institutional capacity of developing countries at the municipal level is lagging in relation to waste generation trends. As a result, cities of developing countries are environmentally polluted and public health is under threat from widespread waste …show more content…

Bangladesh is no exception. It is widely recognized that solid waste management is not only a technical problem. It is strongly influenced by political, legal, socio-cultural, environmental and economic factors as well as availability of resources. These factors are interrelated in waste management systems. Failing to integrate these factors to the solution of waste management problems may not bring fruitful results in practice. Bangladeshi authorities should set policies and strategically direct resources aiming to produce efficient, clean and healthy urban environments for its

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