Dhaka’s waste management plans must include bird rehabilitation

In Dhaka, every morning before the streets get crowded with buses and the market stalls start operating, some birds wake up in the city.

Crow birds flock around garbage bins, myna birds prowl around the vegetable market, black kites soar high in the air and egrets quietly patrol the sides of the city canals and wetlands. Sparrows can be heard flitting among the balconies, buildings and trees in the area. For years, these birds have been living with millions of people in the city.

But this dynamic is changing rather discreetly. In recent years, Dhaka has been working on improving its waste management system by replacing uncovered garbage dumps with covered garbage bins, garbage bags with a seal, garbage collection and proper disposal. These are sanitation and public health issues that are impacting Dhaka, and these are the steps that need to be taken. 

Garbage-free roads help to keep away the stench and disease-carrying insects and enhance the living conditions of the people. However, any action that is taken to enhance the environment has an impact on the surrounding ecosystem. The birds that have adapted to human life are having trouble readapting to their natural lives.

For years, a large portion of the organic waste in Dhaka was dumped in the open. Food waste, such as vegetable peels, fish waste, rice, fruit skins, and other food waste, is gathered around roadside bins, traditional markets, drains, and informal dumping sites. This was a sign of poor waste management, but also inadvertently helped urban wildlife. Birds that learned to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by urban life saw what people considered garbage as a valuable food source.

The most apparent scavengers were the crows, but there were others. Mynas were looking for insects and food debris in the markets. Black kites flew overhead slaughterhouses and fish markets, hoping for scraps of meat. Egrets were fed around wetlands, drains and waterlogged dumping areas where insects, fish and frogs were still plentiful. House sparrows were not scavengers, but they also took advantage of the insects, gardens, trees and nesting places in the neighborhood. All species were ecologically distinct, but each species was directly or indirectly reliant on the urban environment that Dhaka had unwittingly created.

Garbage thus became a problem of more than just sanitation. It formed part of an urban food web. These birds were never a solution to the city's waste management problem. But they recycled some of the organic waste, controlled insect and rodent populations, and created ecological connections that were so ubiquitous that they were easy to miss.

Singapore does not completely bury organic waste, but composts it at the neighbourhood level, keeping the streets clean and maintaining insect and bird life in its parks. In Brazil, Curitiba incorporated green corridors into their waste and transport planning, making habitat a part of the plan, not an accident. Dhaka can do the same by diverting organic waste from the sealed bins to composting or biogas plants at the source.

Today, that balance is changing. The municipal services are collecting waste more effectively in many parts of Dhaka and waste is increasingly being collected in plastic bags and stored in covered containers. The use of open dumping is slowly decreasing, especially in planned neighborhoods and commercial areas. These are real advances for a city with a high population density. They also eliminated food for many birds that had been available for decades.

A crow has a hard time opening a large plastic bag. Mynas have less access to exposed food waste. There are less open dumping grounds where discarded meat was previously found and black kites are not found there. Drainage systems are increasingly engineered and waste is being removed more efficiently, and wet feeding areas that were attractive to egrets continue to disappear. The city is getting cleaner and healthier for people, and less accessible for many species of birds.

Impacts affect many different species since urban biodiversity includes interrelated elements of food, plants, water, and nests, in which changes in one element influence the others. Sparrows lose trees and gardens, egrets lose wetlands due to urbanization. Black kites require open spaces for hunting and mynas are found in a variety of habitats. Birds draw attention to the lack of consideration for biodiversity in urban planning, despite various responses. 

The waste collected in Dhaka city is 7,000 tons per day, but only 37% of the waste is collected. Waste generation per person is increasing due to population growth and changes in consumer behavior. Very little recycling is also taking place and landfill sites are full. Dhaka needs to avoid the previous scenario where roads were littered with trash. Pollution and health hazards are caused by garbage disposal. 

A good waste management is crucial in any urban environment. Clean city and living city are not mutually exclusive objectives. There are several cities that have demonstrated how to keep both. 

Singapore does not completely bury organic waste, but composts it at the neighbourhood level, keeping the streets clean and maintaining insect and bird life in its parks. In Brazil, Curitiba incorporated green corridors into their waste and transport planning, making habitat a part of the plan, not an accident. Dhaka can do the same by diverting organic waste from the sealed bins to composting or biogas plants at the source.

Dhaka is rapidly urbanizing, wetlands are being lost, mature trees are being removed and open spaces are being paved. Although this is a broader trend than changes in waste management, the loss of habitat and loss of open areas have more of an effect on ecology. There are some birds that are thriving, while some are slowly becoming extinct due to lack of food and habitats.

The solution is not to open garbage, as it would reverse the sanitation progress Dhaka has made. The birds require food and habitat that is not reliant on waste that is not collected. Mature, fruit-bearing and insect-attracting trees would be retained during road widening and park redesign, the wetlands and canal edges would be retained rather than filled for construction and small unmanicured areas would be left within parks and residential blocks to provide feeding and nesting areas for birds without the need for garbage. 

City Corporations could implement designated feeding sites for crows and kites away from drains and homes, and neighbourhood composting centres that allow organic waste to be contained but still provide food for the insects that many birds rely on. Little cost and long-term benefit would be achieved through the use of nest boxes on new buildings, restrictions on pesticide use in parks and along canals, and the requirement that Detailed Area Plan revisions consider bird habitat. All of this is not against a cleaner Dhaka. Both can be achieved with thoughtful city design.

Efficiency of the waste management system of a modern city is not the only measure of success. There is a need to evaluate whether the city can still allow the birds to thrive by giving them a place where they can feed and make their nests, whether the green areas can still support life, and whether nature can still play a vital role within the urban environment. 

The future of Dhaka should not be judged by the cleanliness of the roads and the height of the buildings, but also by the presence of birdsong and movement in the skies. For sustainability to exist between nature and humans within an urban setting, it is important that no harm is inflicted upon each other.

Shuktara Khanom is a faculty member in the Department of Economics at Southeast University, Dhaka. Joy Halder and Sanzida Khan are students in the same department. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.