OUR CORRESPONDENT, Mymensingh

Waste management and disposal remain a lingering concern for Mymensingh City Corporation (MCC) for years, despite repeated calls from civic bodies and residents to address the problem.

For around 30 years, the city’s garbage -- including raw waste from markets and toxic medical waste from about 250 hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres -- has been dumped in the open at Moilakanda in the Char Kalibari area, causing severe pollution.

Dr Md Zakiul Islam, deputy director of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, said the hospital has no waste treatment plant. As a result, waste is stored in a shed and later collected by MCC dump trucks every evening.

Md Saiful Islam, deputy director of the Department of Environment in Mymensingh, said many hospitals and clinics have been ignoring instructions on sorting and disposing of medical waste.

Meanwhile, the dumping site at Moilakanda has become a serious nuisance for locals.

Although part of the site is enclosed by a boundary wall, the rest remains open, allowing garbage to spread to adjacent areas, including croplands, particularly during the monsoon.

“Due to waste seeping in from the dumping site, we have been facing difficulties cultivating our croplands and suffering losses for years,” said Sharif Mia, 50, a local farmer.

Mazeda Khatun, another resident, said stench from the dumping site pollutes the air, while flies and mosquitoes persist year-round.

Mohabbat Ali, conservation inspector of MCC, said around 500 tonnes of waste, including five tonnes of medical waste, are generated in the city daily.

As MCC has no experts to manage toxic medical waste, these are disposed of using traditional methods, he added.

He also said there is no separate system for collecting medical waste, meaning all types of waste are transported together by the same trucks to the Moilakanda dumping station.

Nobo Waste Management Service Ltd, a private organisation, collects medical waste from about 40 private hospitals and diagnostic centres under contractual arrangements.

Owners of other private facilities send their waste to MMCH’s garbage shed, from where it is transported to Moilakanda, Ali said.

He said MCC contacted Prism Bangladesh Ltd, a private enterprise, in 2022 to treat waste using an effluent treatment plant and recycle plastic waste, but the work has yet to begin.

The enterprise has already set up a plant and is at the final stage of starting operations, he said.

Abul Hasnat Epu, managing director of Nobo Waste, said with MCC’s support, the organisation has been collecting medical waste and dumping it at the city’s Akua area since 2019.

“We collect medical waste in separate bins according to type and transport it to the dumping station in a covered van,” he said.