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DHAKA stands today as one of the most densely populated and rapidly urbanising megacities in the world. Over the past few decades, it has transformed from a modest riverine town into a sprawling metropolitan hub where millions of people compete for limited space, water, and resources. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2024), the population of Dhaka has reached approximately 24.6 million, and an estimated 15,000 new residents arrive daily, driven by rural-urban migration, climate displacement, and the lure of economic opportunity. This massive demographic influx has pushed the population density to nearly 23,234 people per square kilometre (World Population Review, 2025), making it one of the most crowded urban spaces on Earth. Yet, this demographic transformation has occurred without a parallel evolution in urban management, particularly in waste disposal, environmental regulation, and public health infrastructure. As a result, Dhaka has become overwhelmed by waste, and the city now faces a severe environmental, social, and health crisis that threatens its sustainability and liveability.

Solid waste represents one of the most pressing challenges confronting Dhaka. The city generates thousands of tonnes of refuse daily, a figure that grows each year as urbanisation accelerates. Solid waste in Dhaka can be broadly divided into hazardous and non-hazardous categories, each contributing differently to environmental degradation. Hazardous waste includes chemically reactive, toxic, or infectious materials such as discarded batteries, industrial solvents, pesticides, hospital waste, expired medicines, and flammable substances. These materials, when improperly handled, release dangerous contaminants into soil, water, and air. Non-hazardous waste, on the other hand, primarily originates from households, commercial establishments, and municipal sources. It comprises biodegradable materials such as food scraps and vegetable residues, as well as non-biodegradable items like plastics, glass, and paper. The industrial sector, including garments, tanneries, and food-processing plants, contributes significantly to the total waste load, adding a complex mix of organic and inorganic pollutants. Together, Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporations are responsible for managing more than 6,500 tonnes of solid waste daily (Akther et al., 2025), a number projected to reach 8,500 tonnes by 2032 if current trends continue. The per capita waste generation rate varies sharply according to socioeconomic status: high-income households generate around 560 grams per person per day, middle-income groups 320 to 400 grams, and low-income households only 50 to 250 grams. Over the last three decades, the city’s waste generation has more than doubled, while collection efficiency and disposal technology have improved little. Only about 45 per cent of generated waste is properly collected; the rest is dumped indiscriminately into open drains, canals, riverbanks, and roadside pits, contaminating the air, soil, and waterways that sustain urban life.

Dhaka’s waste management system formally follows four stages — primary collection, secondary transfer, transportation to landfills, and final disposal or recycling. In practice, however, every stage suffers from inefficiency, poor coordination, and lack of technological support. Waste collection in many neighbourhoods still depends on informal sector workers who use hand-pulled carts, baskets, or vans to gather waste from households. These workers, often marginalised and poorly compensated, lack protective gear and safety training, leaving them vulnerable to infections and toxic exposure. At the secondary transfer stations, waste is temporarily stored before being transported to landfills, but these stations are often located near schools, hospitals, and residential areas, causing severe odour, pest infestation, and drainage blockage due to the uncontrolled flow of leachate. Waste transportation is equally problematic. Open trucks are commonly used, spilling liquid waste along the routes and causing contamination across multiple urban zones. This inefficient process reflects broader structural weaknesses in municipal governance, inadequate funding, and weak enforcement of environmental regulations.

Dhaka relies primarily on two landfill sites: Aminbazar in the north and Matuail in the south. Both are nearing the end of their operational lifespans, each covering roughly 100 acres of land. Yet neither has the infrastructure required for safe and sustainable waste management. Modern landfill management requires leachate collection systems, gas recovery units, and protective lining to prevent contamination of groundwater. In Dhaka, however, unlined pits and open dumping remain common. When rainwater percolates through decomposing waste, it creates leachate — a toxic liquid containing dissolved heavy metals, organic pollutants, and pathogens. This leachate seeps into the ground, polluting nearby soil and water bodies. The problem is further compounded by industrial effluents and medical waste, which often enter the municipal waste stream without segregation. Hospitals and clinics in Dhaka generate significant volumes of biohazardous waste every day, including syringes, blades, surgical gloves, and infected plastics. In the absence of proper incineration or autoclaving, much of this waste is mixed with general refuse, heightening the risk of infectious disease transmission. Similarly, industrial discharge from tanneries and metal industries releases heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and chromium into the surrounding ecosystem, severely degrading the quality of river water and posing long-term health threats.

Beyond institutional shortcomings, behavioural and social factors play a major role in worsening the crisis. Public awareness about waste segregation, recycling, and environmental hygiene remains limited. Many city dwellers continue to dispose of waste in open spaces or drains, driven by convenience and a lack of community-based waste management facilities. Plastic consumption has increased dramatically, and despite government bans on polythene bags, their use persists due to weak enforcement and public noncompliance. Because most waste is dumped together without segregation, opportunities for recycling or composting are lost, and recyclable materials that could contribute to a circular economy end up polluting land and water.

Financial and policy measures have been implemented but have yielded mixed results. Between 2016 and 2023, the two city corporations collectively spent more than Tk 3,323 crore on waste management initiatives, yet more than 250 unauthorised dumping sites remain scattered across the city. In 2019, the corporations launched a 15-year Integrated Waste Management Master Plan emphasising the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ principle and aiming to develop a zero-waste city. The plan proposed modern sanitary landfills, waste segregation at the household level, community-based composting, legal reforms, and the creation of eco-towns equipped with recycling and biogas facilities. However, the implementation diverged between the two city corporations. Dhaka North City Corporation pursued a waste-to-energy project with a Chinese company, planning to burn 3,000 tonnes of waste daily to generate electricity. Yet the project faced technical and environmental challenges since Dhaka’s waste has a high moisture content and a low calorific value — around 600 kilocalories per kilogram — making incineration inefficient and polluting. In contrast, Dhaka South City Corporation opted for landfill modernisation, expanding the Matuail site and investing Tk 1,544 crore to develop a sanitary landfill with improved leachate management and methane capture facilities. Despite these efforts, large-scale, sustainable progress remains elusive, largely due to weak coordination among agencies, limited public participation, and the absence of robust regulatory oversight.

Globally, successful examples of waste management in urban centres such as Tokyo, Singapore, and Stockholm demonstrate that sustainable systems depend on public participation and circular economy principles. In Japan, households are legally required to separate waste into categories like combustible, non-combustible, and recyclable materials. Composting and energy recovery technologies are used extensively, turning organic waste into fertiliser or bioenergy. European cities have adopted ‘zero-waste’ models, emphasising waste reduction at the source and maximising material recovery. These approaches prove that efficient urban waste management requires not only technology but also public discipline, policy enforcement, and long-term environmental education — factors that Dhaka must integrate if it hopes to achieve resilience.

The human health implications of poor waste management in Dhaka are alarming. The World Bank (2024) estimates that pollution-related illnesses kill more than 100,000 people annually in Bangladesh, with around 18,000 deaths occurring in Dhaka alone. Airborne pollutants such as methane, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter from open waste burning contribute to respiratory diseases, while heavy metals and pathogens from contaminated soil and water cause kidney, neurological, and gastrointestinal disorders. Children, who are more vulnerable due to weaker immune systems, suffer disproportionately from these conditions. The informal waste workers, often including children face the highest occupational hazards, working daily amidst medical and chemical waste without any form of protection or health insurance.

Dhaka’s environmental predicament cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader context of climate change and urban ecology. Bangladesh is widely recognised as one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world, situated within the deltaic plains of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers. From 2000 to 2019, the country experienced 185 climate-related extreme events, including floods, cyclones, and heatwaves. Rising sea levels and salinity intrusion have rendered large areas of coastal land infertile, forcing rural populations to migrate to urban centres. Many of these displaced families end up in Dhaka’s slums, exacerbating housing shortages, increasing waste generation, and straining the city’s fragile infrastructure. In 2023, Bangladesh experienced one of its longest and hottest heatwaves on record, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius for prolonged periods. Such climatic stresses interact with pollution, intensifying health risks and reducing urban resilience. Economically, these environmental and climatic shocks are costing Bangladesh approximately three billion US dollars annually — around two per cent of its GDP— further demonstrating the intertwined nature of waste, health, and climate vulnerabilities.

Uncontrolled urbanisation and pollution have also led to significant biodiversity loss within Dhaka. Once rich in greenery and open wetlands, the city has rapidly transformed into a concrete jungle. Farmlands, ponds, and vegetation that once supported birds, butterflies, and other species have been replaced by highways, factories, and high-rise buildings. Urban biodiversity, which plays a vital role in maintaining ecological balance, has been severely diminished. Research conducted between 2014 and 2016 in Dhaka’s Botanical Garden, Ramna Park, and Dhaka University campus revealed a striking decline in butterfly diversity — from 73 species previously recorded to only 29 species within two years. This decline signals a larger collapse in urban ecological networks. Rising temperatures, habitat destruction, and pollution-driven habitat homogenisation are driving native species toward extinction, while only a handful of pollution-tolerant species survive. This process, known as biotic homogenisation, erodes ecosystem resilience and accelerates environmental degradation. Urban biodiversity is not merely ornamental; it contributes to carbon sequestration, microclimate regulation, and psychological well-being of urban residents. Its disappearance signals not just ecological imbalance but also the deterioration of human living conditions.

Dhaka’s waste management crisis, therefore, is both a symptom and a cause of the city’s wider environmental instability. Addressing it requires a holistic, science-based, and community-driven approach. Policy reforms must make household-level segregation mandatory, supported by incentives for composting and recycling. Modern sanitary landfills with leachate treatment and methane recovery should replace open dumping. Biogas plants and decentralised composting units could convert organic waste into energy and fertiliser, reducing landfill pressure. Training programmes and protective measures must be introduced for waste workers to ensure occupational safety. Public awareness campaigns, school programmes, and community-based waste initiatives can foster behavioural change and civic responsibility. Moreover, urban planning must incorporate green spaces, urban forestry, and wetland restoration to revive biodiversity and climate resilience.

Ultimately, the twin crises of waste and biodiversity loss in Dhaka symbolise a deeper struggle. The vanishing butterflies of Dhaka and the overflowing landfills of Aminbazar and Matuail are two facets of the same ecological imbalance — an urban civilisation choking on its own progress. Sustainable solutions will depend not merely on technological innovation or financial investment, but on a collective shift in values that recognises waste as a resource, nature as infrastructure, and environmental stewardship as the foundation of urban life. The fate of Dhaka will depend on whether it can turn its waste and chaos into the building blocks of a liveable, resilient, and sustainable future.

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Arghya Protik Chowdhury is a student of environmental science at the Bangladesh University of Professionals.