Crows fighting over the household garbage dumped inside huge pink steel containers left lying on Dhaka streets.

This is a common scene near Aziz Super Market of Shahbagh where thousands of commuters pass through the sickening stench of rotting garbage.

At least 14 other places around the city have these garbage dumping stations right on the streets. There is even one sitting close to the US embassy in Baridhara.

These containers block almost half the road in many places. Cars, buses, and CNGs have to drive around them causing delays and jams.

Managing this huge amount of garbage will be top priority of the recently-elected mayors of Dhaka north and south city corporations who have announced to make Dhaka a clean place in the next six months.

Everyday around 5,000 tonnes of garbage are produced in the city and 70 percent of it is collected by the DSCC and DNCC.

According to the Garbage management system of the city corporations, household and drainage garbage are dumped at more than 600 of these containers. These containers are used as short-term transfer stations.

Garbage is then taken from these containers and dumped at two landfills – Aminbazar and Matuail.  

The strong stench from these landfills even reaches residential areas making life hard for the residents.

Admitting that people face problems from roadside garbage containers, the chief waste management officer of DSCC Captain Raquib Uddin said setting up of secondary transfer stations at every ward can solve the problems.

Secondary transfer station is the place where all the garbage of a ward will be kept for a brief time after collection and taken to a dumping ground by trucks, he said.

Raquib said DSCC has taken initiative to set up seven secondary transfer stations at Hajaribag, Jatrabari, Jurain and Panthakunja on pilot basis but are facing objection from locals as many confuse secondary transfer station with dumping ground.  

DNCC Superintendent Engineer (garbage management department) Mesbahul Karim said they have issued letters to different government organisations requesting lands to construct transfer station at 23 places in the city.

If they get the land then problem of garbage management will be reduced, he said.