Jul 5, 2026
| Staff Correspondent
Environmental activists on Saturday expressed concern that the proposed waste-to-energy project at the Amin Bazar landfill under the Dhaka North City Corporation would increase air pollution and pose serious threat to public health.
They also criticised the government’s reported decision to lower the minimum waste incineration temperature from 1,000C to 850C, claiming that such a move could increase emissions of hazardous pollutants.
The concerns were raised at a press conference organised jointly by the Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network, in short CLEAN, the Bangladesh Working Group on Ecology and Development, in short BWGED, and the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, in short BELA, at Banglamotor in the capital.
Presenting a position paper on behalf of the organisations, CLEAN chief executive Hasan Mehedi said that the proposed 42.5-megawatt waste-to-energy plant would generate substantial quantities of bottom ash, fly ash and particulate matter, along with hazardous air pollutants if operated at full capacity.
According to the position paper, the project would produce about 73,576 tonnes of bottom ash, fly ash and particulate matter annually, 39.56 tonnes of toxic pollutants, including dioxins, furans and heavy metals, and 1.17 tonnes of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrogen chloride.
‘The emissions from the project would pollute the air and threaten public health,’ Hasan Mehedi said.
He also said that the Tk 5,745-crore project, approved in 2020, would emit about 4,11,392 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually if operated at full capacity.
CLEAN networking adviser Monower Mostafa said burning waste for electricity generation was neither a scientific nor sustainable waste management solution.
‘Waste-to-energy through incineration is not a viable long-term solution,’ he said.
BELA policy and campaigns coordinator Bareesh Chowdhury said many countries that previously relied on waste incineration were now gradually phasing out the technology while discouraging it through carbon pricing and stricter environmental regulations.
‘Generating electricity by burning waste is neither economically, nor environmentally or practically sustainable,’ he said.
Local resident Sohel Ahmed Babu said that smoke from occasional waste burning at the landfill already made life difficult for nearby residents.
‘If waste is burned throughout the year, people living in Konabari, Baliarpur, Hemayetpur and surrounding areas will face serious difficulties,’ he said.
The environmental groups also criticised the agreement between the DNCC and the China Machinery Engineering Corporation, claiming that the city corporation would be required to supply about 3,000 tonnes of waste daily to keep the plant operational.
They argued that such an arrangement was likely to discourage efforts to reduce waste generation and contradict the government’s waste management policy, which prioritised waste reduction, reuse and recycling.
The organisations urged the government to cancel the project, noting that it had already been delayed by more than four years.
Instead, they called for source-level waste segregation, compost production, recycling and measures to reduce waste generation.
The government in 2020 adopted the first ever waste-to-energy project of the country in the capital’s Aminbazar with a target to complete the project by 2024.
But the government failed to carry out the project’s infrastructure development part, supposed to be completed by 2024, till now as the land acquisition process is still in progress.
News Link: Waste-to-energy project raises pollution, public health concerns