Household Waste Management in High-Rise Residential Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh: Users? Perspective

Abstract

The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is primarily responsible for collecting and managing waste in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A significant amount of waste in Dhaka is not collected due to lack of infrastructure, funds and collection vehicles. Despites Dhaka’s limited waste management service, community based door-to-door waste collection from households to local waste bins is considered as a success. Informal waste recycling systems is also highly effective in waste recycling and job creations for the poor. Even though both horizontal and vertical expansion is prevalent in Dhaka, there has been an increasing trend in vertical expansion of the city in recent years as horizontal expansion is not possible due to barriers such as the built up urban core and low lying flood plains. Very limited number of studies has been conducted on waste management system in high-rise residential buildings in Dhaka. Therefore, this study focuses on the waste management scenario of high-rise residential buildings in Dhaka. The study is particularly interested in the socio-demographic, cultural and environmental features in high-rise residential buildings. The study identified key areas in waste management systems in high-rise residential buildings which is the avenue for future studies for integrating waste management strategies in high density residential development in Dhaka. Based on the findings, the study recommends a further examination of the integration of waste management infrastructure in the high-rise residential building development in Dhaka.