Waste Management 32 (2012) 2029–2036 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Waste Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman Solid waste recycling in Rajshahi city of Bangladesh Q Hamidul Bari ⇑, K Mahbub Hassan, M Ehsanul Haque Department of Civil Engineering, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna 9203, Bangladesh a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 12 August 2011 Accepted 27 May 2012 Available online July 2012 Keywords: Recyclable solid waste Recycling Waste collectors Recycling dealers Recycling factories Private sector a b s t r a c t Efficient recycling of solid wastes is now a global concern for a sustainable and environmentally sound management In this study, traditional recycling pattern of solid waste was investigated in Rajshahi municipality which is the fourth largest city of Bangladesh A questionnaire survey had been carried out in various recycle shops during April 2010 to January 2011 There were 140 recycle shops and most of them were located in the vicinity of Stadium market in Rajshahi About 1906 people were found to be involved in recycling activities of the city The major fraction of recycled wastes were sent to capital city Dhaka for further manufacture of different new products Only a small amount of wastes, specially plastics, were processed in local recycle factories to produce small washing pots and bottle caps Everyday, an estimated 28.13 tons of recycled solid wastes were handled in Rajshahi city area This recycled portion accounted for 8.25% of the daily total generated wastes (341 ton dÀ1), 54.6% of total recyclable wastes (51.49 ton dÀ1) and 68.29% of readily recyclable wastes (41.19 ton dÀ1) Major recycled materials were found to be iron, glass, plastic, and papers Only five factories were involved in preliminary processing of recyclable wastes Collecting and processing secondary materials, manufacturing recycled-content products, and then buying recycled products created a circle or loop that ensured the overall success of recycling and generated a host of financial, environmental, and social returns Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved Introduction In view of the importance of energy saving as well as conservation of resources, efficient recycling of solid wastes is now a global concern requiring extensive research and development works towards exploring newer applications and maximizing use of existing technologies for a sustainable and environmentally sound management (Demirbas, 2010) Growth of population, increasing urbanization, rising standards of living due to technological innovations have contributed to an increase both in the quantity and variety of solid wastes Globally, the estimated quantity of solid wastes expected to be generated annually by the year 2025 is about 19 billion tons (Yoshizawa et al., 2004) It is now a global concern, to find a socio, techno-economic, environmental friendly solution to sustain a cleaner and greener environment A part of management can be done by reusing the reusable portion of the waste following the excellent waste management hierarchy which emphasizes reduce, reuse, recycle, recover and stable residue Recycling and reuse imply separating, collecting, processing, marketing, and ultimately using a material that would otherwise have been thrown away This morning’s newspaper can be recycled for another morning’s news or other paper products Carpet and clothing can be made from recycled soda bottles Collecting and ⇑ Corresponding author Tel.: +880 01714087299; fax: +880 41 774780 E-mail address: qhbari@yahoo.com (Q Hamidul Bari) 0956-053X/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2012.05.036 processing secondary materials, manufacturing recycled-content products, and then buying recycled products creates a circle or loop that ensures the overall success of recycling and generates a host of financial, environmental, and social returns Some of these benefits accrue locally as well as globally In addition, recycling and reuse of waste materials can contribute to other state and local policy goals, such as job creation, economic development, and reducing land and marine pollution (Cascadia Consulting Group, 2009) Bangladesh is generally faced with the rapid deterioration of environmental and sanitation conditions due to the conventional system of collection, transportation and the crude dumping of municipal solid wastes Therefore, urban solid waste management has become a major concern for cities and towns in the country With regards to achieving proper solid waste management in municipalities, efforts were made particularly to improve the waste collection process and disposal facilities Nevertheless, a traditional solid waste recycling and reuse scheme has been established in different cities of Bangladesh under private initiatives whose sustainability was confirmed over the years without any official or formal funds (Bari et al., 2009) The private sector is characterized by a small scale, labor-intensive, unregulated and disorganized system for services The private sector generally cannot get any special support from the government for their activities The traditional recycling of solid waste has been carried out not designating recyclables as wastes but as resources which provided positive impacts 2030 Q Hamidul Bari et al / Waste Management 32 (2012) 2029–2036 With some exceptions, recycling activities take place in a polluting and unhealthy environment This study aims at revealing the traditional solid waste recycling pattern in Rajshahi city of Bangladesh as an example In this context, the major focus was encompassed with the participation of different levels of waste collectors; an assortment of hierarchical recycle shops, and local factories Methodology In developing countries waste reuse scheme is managed by informal sector, specially the urban poor, as means of employment Generally, this is a decentralized waste management system with self sufficient (autonomous) management The system is characterized by having separate small-scaled flows and flexible management systems with high involvement of end users Such decentralized systems include small scale private waste collection systems and informal recycling projects Decentralized system manages flow of materials close to production areas hence are being considered to have low cost of management The decentralized system seems to work better in provisions of urban infrastructures, especially in situations where centralized system is not yet in place and in situations where the end users of these systems strive to function independent from higher level institutions and authorities working hours, wages, collection process, etc In this study, a total 34 shops were surveyed in details 2.2.3 Waste recycling factories The waste recycling factories were located in Bangladesh small and cottage industries Corporation (BSCIC) area of Sapura A detailed questionnaire survey was conducted in these factories which included: factory activity, raw material, number of workers, wages, amount of waste collected and products, etc 2.3 Rate of waste generation Different studies suggested a waste generation rate around 0.38–0.78 kg per capita per day in Rajshahi city (Table 2) with an average of 0.44 kg per capita per day The total population in this city was considered 775,500 (BBS, 2009) and hence the average solid waste generation rate was estimated 341 tons dÀ1 The physical composition of solid wastes of Rajshahi, Khulna and Dhaka city were represented in Table where only food and vegetable wastes accounted for 70% of the total generated wastes (Hai and Ali, 2005; Yousuf and Rahman, 2007) Results and discussion 2.1 Selection of study ares 3.1 Primary waste collectors Rajshahi is the 4th largest city of Bangladesh The area of Rajshahi city corporation is 96.72 square kilometers and divided into 30 wards According to the census in 2009, the population in Rajshahi was around 775,500 (BBS 2009) A structured questionnaires survey on solid waste recycling in Rajshahi city was conducted during April 2010 to January 2011 (Haque, 2011) A total of eight locations in 30 wards were surveyed and almost all the waste recycling shops (WRS) of Rajshahi city were situated in the selected area (Table 1) Waste pickers and feriwala (buyer of recyclable wastes from house) normally work as the primary waste collectors In Rajshahi city, the waste pickers were found collecting wastes from wastebins or road sides The detail information on primary waste collectors and their activities have been documented in Table People of different ages were involved in picking wastes but most of them fall within 10–30 years old There was a tendency among the poor people, who did not get job, to be involved in waste picking; because there was no financial investment in this work and the money they received by selling the waste was totally their income Most of the primary waste collectors were found to be the inhabitants in a slum of 92 families and situated behind the Padma residential area at Vodra The waste pickers usually went out for work in the morning and returned back in the afternoon During this period they used to collect an estimated 11–20 kg dÀ1 of wastes from different parts of the city Most of the waste pickers were found illiterate Recently, the city authority arranged a temporary class for about 70–80 students behind the ‘‘Shahid Captain Monsur Ali park’’ In comparison to waste pickers, the number of feriwala was less, almost one third of total primary waste collectors; because in this case financial investment was needed Moniruzzaman et al (2011) found 658 number feriwala and 1349 number waste pickers involved in waste recycling in Khulna city with ratio of 1:2 Usually, feriwala used to collect an estimated 30–40 kg dÀ1 of wastes and had better financial condition than waste pickers Moreover, feriwala were of two categories: (i) walked door to door with container made of bamboo and a balance (Fig 1a), (ii) used rickshaw van to carry the waste materials Finally, the waste pickers and feriwala sold the collected recyclable wastes to various recycle shops (Fig 1b) A waste picker usually earns Tk 90–150 per day while a feriwala earns Tk 150–200 per day The estimated amount of waste collected by waste picker and feriwala were found to be 17.5 kg dÀ1 and 34.63 kg dÀ1, respectively (Table 4) 2.2 Questionnaire survey A structured questionnaire survey on the existing recycling process was conducted among those people who are related with the recycling process such as waste collectors, owner and workers of shops and recycling factories The survey is conducted in three different categories which include: primary waste collectors, wastes recycle shops, and wastes recycle factories 2.2.1 Primary waste collectors Primary waste collectors were those people who collected recyclable waste materials from houses or dustbins and finally sold to various waste recycle shops Two types of primary waste collectors were involved in this process: waste pickers and house to house waste collectors locally named feriwala The waste pickers used to collect wastes from streets, municipal bins and other places 2.2.2 Waste recycling shops The wastes recycle shops were found to be developed in cluster form The shops were categorized according to the type of wastes they deal with, the size of shops, and the number of workers in each shop Based on this preliminary survey, some shops were selected for detailed survey Most of the SFRM proprietors were not willing to provide the real data because they worried to increasing taxes They used to maintain informal records However, it was interesting to recover a number of sensible information from the traditional reuses pattern The questionnaire survey in recycle shops documented information regarding the quantity of waste material they dealt with, type of wastes, number of workers, 3.2 Waste recycling shops A total of 140 waste recycling shops were identified in Rajshahi city area Mainly four categories of wastes were recycled as 2031 Q Hamidul Bari et al / Waste Management 32 (2012) 2029–2036 Table Location of shops and characteristics of the places Source: Rajshahi city corporation web site Ward number/location names Characteristics of the ward No of house-holds in ward (area in acre) Population of the ward (literacy %) No of dealersa Court station Laxmiipur Vatapara 12 Shaheb bazar Rani Bazar 15 Stadium market Shal Bagan 16 Sapura industrial area 19 Old station 27 Vodra, Tikapara Mixed income households and some agricultural land Middle class and educated professionals live here Markets and residential area 3119 (1125b) 1874 (782) 1748 (485) 15190 (56.7) 12700 (69.3) 9840 (82.5) 3 14 Recyclable waste market area and residential area 2104 (602) 10500 (84.8) 68 Industrial area and residential area Residential and market area Residential area High to middle income people live in this area Residential area, Middle income people live here 2549 (936) 1945 (781) 2198 (282) 12000 (72.3) 8870 (62.9) 10870 (72.4) 20 2469 (596) 12009 (59.75) 17 Dingadoba, Tultulipara Others a b Finding of this work acre = 0.4047 hectare described in Tables 5–7 Major recycled materials were paper or bags, plastic, glass, and metals A total 34 shops (24% of 140 shops) were surveyed in details The number of workers in recycle shops were found to be varied according to the nature of job like only separation, only compaction or both On the basis of the amount of waste handled, the shops were classified into four categories namely Large, Medium, small type A (STA) and small type B (STB) for further analysis The large shops usually handled more than 2000 kg dÀ1, the medium shops handled 1000–2000 kg dÀ1, the STA handled 500–1000 kg dÀ1 and the STB handled less than 500 kg dÀ1 There were three large recycle shops in the study area, however, only one agreed to provide data (Table 5) This shop was located at Vodra and used to handle 9250 kg dÀ1 recyclable wastes Generally, all large shops used to buy recycled wastes from medium and small shops Only one medium shop was identified in the city area which had an average waste handling capacity of 1500 kg dÀ1 A total of seven STA shops were identified and each had a capacity of handling 500–875 kg dÀ1 recyclable wastes (Table 6) Two STA shops were located in Vodra area, three in Stadium area and one in Sapura area Primarily, the STA shops were found to dealing with metal items However, glass items were also handled in these shops Working hour of the owner/staffs were found around 8–9 h a day with income/salary Tk 1800–4500 per month Out of a total 129 STB shops in the city area, data from 26 shops were collected and documented as shown in Table Most of those were found to dealing with mixed items and handled around 50–450 kg dÀ1 of recycled wastes Working time of the owner/ staffs were about 7–9 h a day Most of them did not provide information regarding their income or salary The range of income or salary of the respondent owner or worker was Tk 1800–4500 per Table Waste generation of Rajshahi city according to different studies Reference of study Reference of study total waste generation (ton dÀ1) Calculated waste generation (kg capita dÀ1) Ali (2010) Clemett et al (2006) Waste Safe (2005) Ahmed and Rahman (2000) 350 200 0.78 0.44 170 0.38 387a 0.50 341a 0.44b Average a b Calculation based on the population 775,500 Average of last three references month Mostly, these shops were located in Vodra and Stadium area 3.3 Estimation of recycled waste The average recycled wastes handled by the small type B shop was estimated from Table Recycled wastes = 4519/26 = 173.8 kg dÀ1 Similarly, small type A shop 601 kg dÀ1 (Table 6) Thus, the total recyclable wastes handled by 129 numbers small type B shops, numbers small type A shops and a Medium shop would be aggregated to 28.13 ton dÀ1 The wastes from small and medium shops finally reached to large recycle shops The three large shops handled almost similar amount of wastes as estimated from the field survey as mentioned in Section 3.2 Thus, a conservative estimate on the amount of waste handled by the large shops was = 9.25 Â = 29.75 ton dÀ1 This value was very close to the amount handled by the small and medium shops Therefore, the total estimated amount of recyclable wastes handled in Rajshahi was taken 28.13 ton dÀ1 The Percentage of recycled solid waste of total solid waste generation per day in Rajshahi city was estimated 8.25% (28.13 Â 100/341) The data 8.25% of recycled wastes in Rajshahi was found analogous with Dhaka and Khulna cities as 9.10% (Memon, 2002) and 8.87% (Bari et al., 2009) of total daily solid waste generation, respectively 3.4 Estimation of recyclable solid waste Potential recyclable solid waste in Rajshahi city was 15.1% as calculated from Table 3, which includes the recyclable composition such as paper and paper products, polythene and plastic, metal components, glass and ceramics This data was important with regards to recycling The other major part 84.9% was not recyclable and could be used for composting or fermentation Therefore, the quantity of recyclable solid waste (RSW) was estimated from total waste generation (341 ton dÀ1) as 0.151 Â 341 = 51.49 ton dÀ1 3.5 Estimation of readily recyclable solid waste A term readily recyclable solid waste could be introduced to estimate the percentage of recycling as it was not possible for waste collectors to collect all of the RSW found in the waste bin, dustbin and disposal site They can collect only those recyclable solid wastes, which were clean and have some selling value In absence of proper separation at the source some slowly biodegradable components such as paper and bone tend to decompose and some other were spoiled with the mixed decomposable organic waste Finally, they lost their selling value as well as opportunity 2032 Q Hamidul Bari et al / Waste Management 32 (2012) 2029–2036 Table Physical composition (%) of solid waste generated from Rajshahi and Dhaka with typical values of Bangladesh a City Source Composition Rajshahi city Waste Safe (2005) % Dhaka city Waste Safe (2005) % Dhaka city Memon (2002) % Typical values for Bangladesh Huda (2008) % Food and vegetable waste Paper and paper products Polythene and plastic Textile and woods Metal component Glass and ceramics Rubber and leathers Brick, concrete and stone Green waste and Straw Dust, ashes Others 71.1 8.9a 4.0a 1.9 1.1a 1.1a 1.1 2.9 – 6.5 1.4 68.3 10.7 4.3 2.2 2.0 0.7 1.4 1.8 – 6.7 1.9 70.12 4.16 4.17 – 0.13 0.25 0.70 4.29 10.76 – 5.42 70.0 4.0 5.0 – 0.13 0.25 – – 11 – 9.62 Summation of these values is 15.1%, which is the Potential recyclable solid waste in Rajshahi city Table Amount of waste collected by primary waste collectors Type of waste collectors (age) Male/female Waste Waste Waste Waste Waste Waste Male Male Male Male Female Female picker picker picker picker picker picker (55) (10) (13) (30) (30) (35) Average collection (kg dÀ1) Selling price (Tk/kg) Income (Tk) Feriwala Feriwala Feriwala Feriwala (28) (48) (46) (28) Male Male Male Male Average collection (kg dÀ1) Profit (Tk/kg) Income (Tk) a Amount of waste collected (kg dÀ1) Glass Paper Plastic Metal Total 2 5 14–15 7–8 7–8 20 10 1.5 2–3 0.5 0.5 1–0.5 1–0.5 0.5 0.5 19.5 13.0 16.0 28.0 14.0 14.5 3.33 3.0 10.0 11.25 6.0 67.5 2.25 25.0 56.3 0.67 25.0 16.8 17.50 5–6 4–5 15 10 20–25 18–20 15 10 2–3 2–3 5–6 15 2.5 40.5 36.0 33.0 29 2.0 8.0 16.63 3.0 50.0 7.5 7.0 52.5 6.5 8.0 52.0 34.63 150.0a 162.0a Taka (Tk); 1Euro = 106 Taka, August 5, 2011 for recycling The portion of recyclable solid waste, which were clean and had selling values, could be designated as readily recyclable solid wastes The readily recyclable solid waste was estimated as 80% of RSW = 0.80 Â 51.49 ton dÀ1 equaled to 41.19 ton dÀ1 The total amount of recycled wastes in Rajshahi city was found 28.13 ton dÀ1 which accounted for 8.25% of daily total generated wastes (341 ton dÀ1) Furthermore, this 28.13 ton dÀ1 recycled wastes was found to be 54.6% of total recyclable solid wastes (RSW) 51.49 ton dÀ1 and 68.29% of readily RSW of 41.19 ton dÀ1 3.6 Plastic recycling factory Most of the wastes collected by the large and medium shops were sent to Dhaka for the production of different new materials Only a small amount of wastes were processed in local factories Therefore, details information of these local factories were vital with regards to have a complete scenario on waste recycling in Rajshahi city Only five recycling factories were found in Rajshahi These factories were located at the BSCIC area of Sapura The factories handled 75–800 ton dÀ1 and had workers from to 23 persons with a total 47 staffs as shown in Table These were small type factories which dealt with plastics (Fig 3a) These factories collected the plastic wastes from recycle shops and cut the sorted plastics into small pieces and sent to Dhaka for the manufacture of new products Wastes like PET bottles were only washed and sold in the market directly Two of the local factories used to manufacture plastic products such as small containers, water pots (Bodna), and bottle caps 3.6.1 Processing of wastes in local factories Four out of five local factories were associated with preliminary processing of waste materials which included: sorting, separation, cutting, washing, and drying the products The process flow diagram was shown in the first five units of Fig  Sorting: The plastic wastes were sorted according to their physical properties such as hardness, color, and thickness, because different types of processed wastes were sent to different production factories  Separation: Separation included removal of unwanted objects such as dusts or other wastes particles  Cutting: Cutting was done to reduce the size of the plastic waste materials in the range of mm to 12 mm (Fig 3b)  Washing: After cutting, the plastic wastes were washed with water using detergent  Drying: The wet waste chips were then dried in the sun (Fig 3c) Sometimes, the waste chips were mixed with colors and finally the dried plastic chips were packed and sent to Dhaka or local factory for the manufacture of new products 2033 Q Hamidul Bari et al / Waste Management 32 (2012) 2029–2036 Fig (a) A feriwala carries a balance like container made of bamboo and rope and moves from door to door on foot; (b) a small waste recycling shop in Rajshahi city Table Amount collected by large and medium recycling waste shops a Sl no Place No of worker 01 02 Vodra (L) Vodra (M) 18 Paper bags Plastic Glass Metal Total (kg dÀ1) Working hours Salarya/income 2250 2000 5000 1500 9250 1500 9 3.0–5.0 3.9–5.1 Working hours Salarya/income 8 9 2.0–3.0 2.5 – 4.5 1.8–3.6 – Thousand Taka average income or salary per owner or worker per months (1Euro = 106 Taka, August 5, 2011) Table Collected data on small type A recycling waste shops Sl no Place 01 02 03 04 05 06 Vodra Vodra Stadium Stadium Stadium Sapura Total a No of worker 4 – 5 21 Total (kg dÀ1) Paper bags Plastic Glass Metal – – 225 20 – 40–50 – – 100 40 – 80 – – 200 100 500–600 50 500 500 – 500 – 700 500 500 525 660 550 875 – 3610 – – – – Thousand Taka average income or salary per owner or worker per months Table Collected data on small type B recycling waste shops Sl no Place No of worker Paper bags Plastic Glass Metal 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Vodra Vodra Vodra Vodra Stadium Stadium Stadium Stadium Stadium Stadium Stadium Stadium Stadium Rani Bazar Rani Bazar Rani Bazar Sapura Sapura S Bazar S Bazar S Bazar D Doba RO Station S Bagan S Bagan S Vodra 2 11b 10b 1 2 1 35b 10b 1 – – – – – – – – – – – – 60 – – – 20 20 400–500 200 60 50 150 – – 70–80 – – 50 – – 50–60 – 40 – – – – – 15 10–12 – – – 10 100 10 30 50 200 – 70–80 – 200 80 – 400 – – 30 100 – – – – 40 20 – – – – 50 10 60–70 50 – 100 100–150 50 – 30 300 – 200 70 30–35 – – 50 60 80 10 30–40 – – – 25 150 50 30 50 Total a b 50–100 200 113 Thousand Taka average income or salary per owner or worker per months Include worker involved for waste processing activities Total (kg dÀ1) 200 100 286 50 200 160 300 400 255 70 102 100 60 50 60 80 85 86 450 210 60 85 450 70 200 350 4519 Working hours Salarya/income 8 8 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 9 2.5–4.0 – 3.0 – 2.0 1.5 – 1.7–4.0 2.0 – 3.5 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 2034 Q Hamidul Bari et al / Waste Management 32 (2012) 2029–2036 Table Particular of solid waste recycling factories in Rajshahi city Sl no No of worker Type of waste Amount (kg) Processes or product Working hour Monthly salary 13 23 Plastic Plastic Plastic Bottle Plastic Plastic 200 75 500 75 800 Cutting, washing Pots, covers Cutting, washing export to Dhaka Cutting, Bodna Cutting, washing, washed water bottles send to Dhaka 10 10 10 1500 2000 2000–5000 1800–3800 2000–8000 Total 47 Fig Process flow diagram of a plastic recycling factory in Rajshahi Fig Photographic flow chart of a plastic recycling factory in Rajshahi This factory processes recycled plastics to produce Bodna (washing pot) Q Hamidul Bari et al / Waste Management 32 (2012) 2029–2036 3.6.2 Factories deal with production of new products Two wastes recycle factories among the five produced new products from waste materials One factory produced bottle caps and small pots and other factory produced washing pots ‘locally named Bodna’ The process flow diagram was shown in Fig which included both the preliminary and final processing The final processing units namely helical stick preparation, cutting helical stick, heating, manufacture of final products, and maintaining shape were shown in Fig Photographic flow chart of a plastic recycling factory in Rajshahi was shown in Fig 3.6.2.1 Helical plastic sticks (Dana) The waste pieces were melt to form a plastic stick called Dana It was an intermediate condition of the plastic during the production process of the washing pots looked like a thick irregular shape helical spring These sticks were normally 30 cm to 50 cm long and had a diameter varying from cm to cm  Cutting of stick: The helical sticks were then cut into small chips of to cm sizes by a cutting machine  Heating: The small plastic chips produced from stick were then heated in a machine The raw chips were not melted at this stage This was a kind of preheating of raw chips  Making product: In this phase the primary shape of the desired product was performed The preheated plastic waste chips were fed into the final production machine subjected to further heating and became soft, however, not liquid  Final polishing: The final polishing of the products was done through manual and mechanical means (Fig 3d) Then polished pots were then packed for marketing 3.7 Estimation of number of people involved in recycling process The people involved in primary collection were waste pickers and feriwala The number of feriwala was found one third of the total primary collectors The capacity of waste collection by feriwala was found to be approximately double than a waste picker (Moniruzzaman et al., 2011) The average amount of waste collected by a waste picker was 17.5 kg dÀ1 and a feriwala 34.63 kg dÀ1 (Table 4) Thus, the total 28.13 ton dÀ1 of recycled wastes could be collected together by 404 number of feriwala and 808 number of waste pickers Therefore, the total number of feriwala plus waste pickers is 1212 The total number of people involved in recycling shops and factories were consisted of proprietors and appointed workers Usually for small shops the owner worked alone For the estimation of number of people involved in recycling activities, the average number of workers in each type shop was determined and then multiplied with total number of identified shops The total number owner plus worker for all types of shops was estimated: = Worker of (STA + STB + Medium shop + Large Shop) = (113 Â 129)/26 + (21 Â 7)/5 + Â + 18 Â person (identified shop number is in italic font) = 647 persons The total numbers of people involved in recycling factories were 47 persons (Table 8) Therefore, the total number of people involved in recycling in Rajshahi was estimated: = Number of people involved in (primary collection + shops + factories) = (1212 + 647 + 47) persons = 1906 persons 2035 Thus, a total 1906 persons were working daily in Rajshahi city for waste recycling processes Significance The recycling of solid waste was not included in the waste management policy of local authority, yet it had become a main source of income for several groups of the private sector The waste collectors should be formally incorporated in waste management systems, both at local level systems, as well as in the larger urban framework For this, training would be required on personal hygiene as most waste collectors were found to be unaware of the consequences of garbage sorting without adopting safety guidelines Moreover, attention should be paid to improve the living conditions of the waste collectors The amount of final processing of recyclable waste materials in Rajshahi city was found to be very small, about 5.87% of the collected wastes undergone preliminary processing and only 0.53% were recycled into new products such as washing pots and jars The manufacture of new products from most recycled wastes was done in Dhaka The major portion (100 – 5.87 – 0.53 = 93.6% of 28.13 ton dÀ1) about 26.48 ton dÀ1 of waste materials were transported to Dhaka city over a distance of 230 km daily Thus, a huge amount of money was wasted for transportation in both directions: to export raw waste materials and to import recycled products for local consumption Therefore, it is imperative to establish large recycling factories in Rajshahi city which would save a large amount of money and help in reducing unemployment Conclusions The major conclusions drawn from this study was outlined as below:  There were 140 recyclable shops and most of them situated at Stadium market in Rajshahi About 1906 people were involved in the recycling chain of the city  The total amount of recyclable waste handled in Rajshahi was 28.13 ton dÀ1 This recycled portion accounted for 8.25% of the daily total generated wastes (341 ton dÀ1), 54.6% of total recyclable wastes (51.49 ton dÀ1) and 68.29% of readily recyclable wastes (41.19 ton dÀ1)  There were five recycling factories with clear preliminary and final processing sequences These factories had been using locally available machineries and consumed only 6.4% of RSW The major fraction, around 93.6%, of recycled wastes were sent to capital city Dhaka for further manufacture of different new products Only a small amount of wastes, specially plastics, were processed in local recycle factories to produce small washing pots and bottle caps  Training on personal hygiene as well as improving living conditions of waste collectors would definitely ensure the long term sustainability of this traditional pattern of solid wastes recycling References Ahmed, M.F., Rahman, M.M., 2000 Water Supply & Sanitation: Rural and Low Income Urban Communities ITN-Bangladesh, Centre for Water Supply and Waste Management, BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh Ali, A., 2010 Faulty solid waste management in Rajshahi city Daily Star (11.02.2010) Bari, Q.H., Moniruzzaman, S.M., Uddin, M.A., 2009 Recycling of solid waste in Khulna city of Bangladesh Scenario of solid waste management program of selected municipalities in Bangladesh In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Solid Waste Management, WsateSafe, KUET, Khulna, Bangladesh, pp 623–630 BBS, 2009 Statistical Pocket Book Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Bangladesh 2036 Q Hamidul Bari et al / Waste Management 32 (2012) 2029–2036 Cascadia Consulting Group, 2009 Recycling and Economic Development: A Review of Existing Literature on Job Creation, Capital Investment, and Tax Revenues King County Solid Waste Division LinkUp, Washington, USA Clemett, A., Amin, M.A., Ara, S., Akan, M.M.R., 2006 Background Information for Rajshahi City, WASPA Asia Project Report Rajshahi, Bangladesh Demirbas, A., 2010 Waste management, waste resource facilities and waste conversion processes Energy Conversion and Management 52, 1280– 1287 Hai, F.I., Ali, M.F., 2005 A study on solid waste management system of Dhaka city corporation: effect of composting and landfill location UAP Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering (1), 18–26 Haque, M.E., 2011 Solid Waste Recycling In Rajshahi City B.Sc Thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, KUET, Khulna, Bangladesh Huda, K.M.N., 2008 Municipal Solid Waste Management, Bangladesh Perspective Academic press and Publishing Library, Dhaka, Bangladesh, p 27 Memon, M.A., 2002 Solid Waste Management in Dhaka, Bangladesh Moniruzzaman, S.M., Bari, Q.H., Fukuhara, T., 2011 Recycling practices of solid waste in Khulna city, Bangladesh The Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management, USA 37 (1), 1–16 Safe, Waste, 2005 Integrated Management and Safe Disposal of Municipal Solid Waste in Least Developed Asian Countries – A Feasibility Study Department of Civil Engineering, KUET, Khulna, Bangladesh Yoshizawa, S., Tanaka, M., Shekdar, A.V., 2004 Global trends in waste generation In: Gaballah, I., Mishar, B., Solozabal, R., Tanaka, M (Eds.), Recycling, Waste Treatment and Clean Technology TMS Mineral, Metals and Materials Publishers, Spain, pp 1541–1552 (II) Yousuf, T.B., Rahman, M., 2007 Monitoring quantity and characteristics of municipal solid waste in Dhaka city Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 135, 3–11  ... S.M., Uddin, M.A., 2009 Recycling of solid waste in Khulna city of Bangladesh Scenario of solid waste management program of selected municipalities in Bangladesh In: Proceedings of the International... survey in recycle shops documented information regarding the quantity of waste material they dealt with, type of wastes, number of workers, 3.2 Waste recycling shops A total of 140 waste recycling. .. Significance The recycling of solid waste was not included in the waste management policy of local authority, yet it had become a main source of income for several groups of the private sector The waste