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Waste piled up along the Dhaka–Aricha Highway has turned about a 30-kilometre stretch of one of the busiest transport corridors into a sprawling open-air dump as Savar municipality’s waste management has collapsed.

Heaps of decomposing garbage have filled the roadside, wetland and open fields from Gabtali to Dhamrai.

A 200-metre stretch of road at Aminbazar lies buried under trash, forcing pedestrians to walk down the road while nearby shops are engulfed in a suffocating stench.

‘Vans and trucks dump garbage here every day,’ said Amirul Islam, a hardware shop owner near Savar New Market. ‘The leachate seeps into my shop. The smell is intolerable.’

At least 10 informal dumping points have emerged along the route, including those near the Savar Model Mosque, Mushroom Development Institute, and Bangladesh Betar transmission centre.

Garbage has also encroached on parts of the Turag River near Aminbazar.

Residents say that the situation has persisted for years as authorities cite a lack of land and funds.

‘They keep saying that they are waiting for a landfill, but the waste keeps growing—on highways, behind schools, and in fields,’ said Muhaiminul Islam of the Genda area in Savar.

Savar, home to more than 200 bakeries and hundreds of factories, reportedly sees expired goods and industrial refuse dumped by the roadside to evade disposal costs.

Locals allege that indiscriminate dumping is being used to illegally occupy government land.

‘The encroachers pile up waste for months, cover it with soil and sand, and then shops or fuel stations appear,’ said a resident of Baliarpur.

A former dumpsite in the area was recently converted into a filling station, while several parts were already used by the roads and highways department in the road expansion project, residents alleged.

According to the Bangladesh Land Control Rules, construction within 60–75 feet of a road centreline is prohibited, but violations are widespread.

A transport company currently uses a part of the Aminbazar roadside to keep its buses parked.

Officials from the Roads and Highways Department say that the sight has become a national embarrassment.

‘Heaps of waste now greet travellers entering Dhaka,’ said RHD Dhaka north supervising engineer Mohammad Saifuddin. ‘We have raised the issue in the Savar upazila coordination committee meeting repeatedly, but dumping continues.’

He, however, rejected the allegations of the practices of road expansion with garbage as the foundation. ‘We will take action if land-grabbing allegations are reported’, he said.

The unregulated dumping is fuelling health hazards. Decomposing waste attracts rodents and insects, while runoff during the monsoon contaminates rivers and farmlands.

Fires from burning plastic frequently cover the highway with smoke, reducing visibility for drivers.

‘Open dumping sites are breeding grounds for dengue and chikungunya,’ said Alamgir Kabir of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon. ‘People in Savar are breathing toxic air every day. It is not just ugly, it is dangerous.’

Municipal workers admit that they dump waste ‘wherever there is space’. ‘We are told to collect garbage but not where to take it,’ said Rubel Hossain, a waste collector.

Acting municipal administrator Mamnun Ahmed Anik, who is also the Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Savar, admitted that Savar lacks a permanent dumping ground.

‘We have proposed acquiring land for a site, but it has not progressed due to budget shortages,’ he said.

‘Waste management outside big cities is collapsing,’ said Professor Jamal Uddin of Jahangirnagar University.

‘Savar is a grim example of what happens when authorities fail to plan. Without an early intervention, both the environment and public health will be affected.’