Household waste in Dhaka goes uncollected and unsorted before it reaches landfills

Posted Jul 12, 2026, 1:19 PM

Most wards rely on informal waste pickers and irregular truck routes, so recyclable and organic waste ends up mixed and dumped rather than sorted at source. There is no affordable way for a neighborhood or apartment block to track pickup reliably or separate recyclables for resale. Waste that could be composted or recycled adds to landfill volume that Dhaka has little capacity left to absorb.