4th International Conference on Advances in Civil Engineering 2018 (ICACE 2018)

19 –21 December 2018

CUET, Chittagong, Bangladesh
www.cuet.ac.bd

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF SECONDARY TRANSFER

STATION FOR SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN DHAKA NORTH
CITY CORPORATION (DNCC)

S. Tabassum*
1
Bureau of Research, Testing and Consultation (BRTC), BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh,

*Corresponding Author E-mail: sumaiya.buet168@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Waste generation in Dhaka city is increasing which renders a huge challenge to Solid Waste
Management (SWM) in Dhaka. Secondary Transfer Station which was established by DNCC has
reduced roadside dumping but the current practice is far away from standard practice. The objective of
this study is to determine number and amount of waste handled by surveyed STS, Zone of Coverage
around each STS and establish a relative picture of their performance. Questionnaire survey was
conducted to get data of Rickshaw Van, Container, Transfer Vehicle and ArcGIS 10.3.1 software was
used to create mapping and data analysis. From survey, functionality criteria to categorize STSs were
set up and only 10 STSs were categorized as completely functional. Carrier, Compactor, Open truck or
combinations of them have been used to haul waste. From ArcGIS analysis, it was found that maximum
number of STS can handle waste about 500m radial distance around it. 21 STS’s coverage areas are
located outside from respective jurisdiction boundary by 50-80% which shows improper planning of
STS. This study can help to take decision where STS can be located in a particular ward depending on
presence of other STSs.

Keywords: Solid Waste Management; Municipal Solid Waste; ArcGIS 10.3.1; Waste Handling
Capacity; Zone of Coverage.

INTRODUCTION
In Dhaka, waste generation rate is 0.5 kg/capita/day, collection efficiency by formal system is 40%-
50%; recycling by informal system is 10-15%; illegal dumping (uncollected) is 35%-50% (Clean Dhaka
Master Plan, 2005). As 50% dumping in Dhaka is happened by illegal dumping, that means around
22000 ton wastes has been dumped without any regulation. In DNCC, waste collects from roadside
bins, street sweeping and demountable containers. Dumping of wastes at anywhere and transportation
of large containers at peak hour indicates that Dhaka city has need of Transfer Station (TS). Before
sitting a TS, road condition; land use pattern; waste generation rate; access to major transportation
routes; sufficient space for onside roadways, queuing, parking; future extension capacity, space for
recycling, composting; buffer space of that area should be considered (Zemanek et al., 2011). No long-
term storage of waste occurs at TS, waste is quickly consolidated and loaded into a larger vehicle
and moved off site, usually in a matter of hours (EPA, 2008). (Jahan et al., 2009) at their study
discusses that in Door to Door collection system, rickshaw van is the preferable means to collect
solid waste and in their study the STS locations are outlined only considering the zone of coverage
surrounding TS covered by a manually driven Rickshaw van at a time i.e. per trip travelling
capability. The existing Secondary Transfer Station (STS) in DNCC may prevent roadside dumping or
odor. But without any waste minimization technique, this system loads same on landfill as before.
That’s why instead of addressing them as ‘Transfer Station’, they are addressed as ‘Secondary Transfer
Station (STS).The primary objectives of the study are to determine number of STS in every ward and

7
to determine zone of coverage around every STS to establish a relative picture of their performance. As
STS has been newly employed SWM practice by DNCC, number of collection and transfer vehicles
and their rated capacity was collected by site visit. Landfill consideration was not used in this study and
all of the STSs in DNCC were not surveyed. This study doesn’t give complete picture of Dhaka as
DSCC was not included in the study.

METHODOLOGY
Study Area
Dhaka North is situated within Longitude 90º20' to 98º28' and Latitude within 23º44' to 23º 54'. Its total
area covers 82.638 sqkm which consists of five zones including 36 Wards1. In Zone-1, 8 STS was found
during survey. Similarly, the number of STS for Zone-2,3,4,5 were 10, 8, 7 and 11. Location of surveyed
STS was taken by mobile GPS system (Longitude and Latitude). [Fig. 1] was created using ArcGIS
to show location of surveyed STS as follows:

Fig. 1: Location of Surveyed STS in DNCC

Questionnaire Survey
A questionnaire was prepared based on transfer station at different countries and covered all basic
requirements in this regard. The lists of items for the questionnaire survey are: number of van; number
of transfer vehicle; rated capacity of transfer vehicle; number and rated capacity of container; future
extension facility; presence of tin shed; waste dumping on road; road maintenance; adequacy of van or
open truck or carrier; comfortability of drivers; leachate management; light, electricity, water supply
problem ; presence of ward office; washroom facility, hygiene practice, guard, gate condition.

Waste Collection Scenario by Van into STS

In DNCC, primary waste collection vehicle is Hand Cart or Van and waste collection route mainly
organizes by ward officer or the driver himself. DNCC is responsible for secondary waste collection to
remove waste from its dustbins/containers, and transport the waste to final disposal sites (Clean Dhaka
Master Plan, 2005). NGOs/CBOs/private sectors work as primary collection service provider (PCSP)
to collect waste from door-to-door and transport to the dustbins/containers, compactor stations or
sometimes to vacant lands, by rickshaw vans. The standard waste carrying capacity of a van is 250-300
kg but the driver has tendency to carry waste as much as they can. The number of trip given by van
depends on how large the area to collect waste from & number of van available in the area. Trip number
is usually 2-3 per day for Dry season & 3-4 per day for Fruit Season. To determine waste amount
delivered into STS by van, Eq. (1) and (2) are used.

1
Source: Website of Dhaka North City Corporation (URL: http: // old.dncc.gov.bd/ geographical-location-area-
of- dncc/)

8
Trip Generation= Number of Van* Average Trip Generation Number(2 or 3 per van as primary waste
collector suggests) (1)
Trip Generation per day∗Waste Quantity (≈500 kg per trip as waste collector suggests)
Waste Amount= 1000
(2)

Waste Amount Hauled from STS by Transfer Vehicle

Secondary collection is the collection of waste from communal bins, storage points, or transfer station,
and transportation to the final disposal site (Rahman, et al., 2010). During site visit, it was seen that
there are some STS where container (5 /7 /3 ton) was present. Collection system in which the containers
used for the storage of wastes are hauled to the processing, transfer, or disposal site, emptied, and
returned to either their original location or some other location are defined as hauled-container system
(Peavy, et al, 1985). Carrier truck; designed to carry that particular capacity container; carries away the
container from STS to disposal site at 22:00-23:00 usually. In some STSs where no container presents,
van directly dumps the waste on the floor of STS. Then wastes are loaded into Open/Dump Truck by
using Dozer/Payloader. Dozer/Pay Loader is better option than using hand shovel/sack to load waste
into container or transfer vehicle. Though rated capacity of open truck is about 1.5/5/7 ton, workers
have tendency to load double and 20-22 inch (avg.) side height has been maintained to avoid waste
spilling from side. In some STSs, compactor has been used to carry waste to landfill and usual capacity
of compactor is 5,7,3 ton. It takes 1.5~2hr to fill a compactor and usually reduces 1/3 rd volume of
waste. In some wards, compactors are used to tackle extra waste produced occasionally, e.g., in vacation
(Eid, Puja) or fruit season when waste load is extreme. Waste amount hauled from transfer vehicle can
be found using Eq. (3) and (4).
Waste amount hauled by open truck/compactor (ton/day) =Number of Truck/Compactor * trip number
* Rated capacity (3)
Waste amount hauled by Carrier(ton/day) =Number of container*Rated capacity of container (4)

Zone of Coverage of STSs

Zone of coverage means area surrounding a specific STS from where waste was disposed into that STS.
So to determine the radial distance; population was estimated for different ward for the year 2016 from
the data of 2011 and from the estimated population and waste quantity handled by STS per day, radial
distance of Zone of coverage around a particular STS was determined by using Eq. (5).
Waste Quantity Handled by STS
Coverage Zone = 1000 ∗ √Population Density∗Waste Generation Rate∗3.1416
(5)

As Zone of Coverage overlapped with each other, to illustrate overlapped coverage area, ‘Overlay
Tools’ and then ‘Union’ was used in ArcGIS. As coverage area of a STS can go outside of ward
boundary, ‘Intersection tool’ from Geoprocessing Tool box was used to illustrate coverage area
intersected with ward boundary. By using Eq. (6), coverage area of a particular STS inside their
respective ward boundary can be determined.
Coverage area inside Ward
Now,Coverage Area inside respective ward boundary = 100 ∗ Ward Area
(6)

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Classification of STS
As no standard practice has been followed to set up STS by DNCC, from field site investigation, STSs
can be categorized into five classes by taking consent from DNCC officials which are as follows:
i) Completely Functional: sufficient waste handling, future extension facility, tin shed presence, well
road maintenance, no vehicle shortage, no light, electricity, water supply problem
ii) Functional: sufficient waste handling, roadside dumping, not whole ward covered, shortage of van,
no shortage of transfer vehicle, road condition good, tin shed, no light, electricity, water supply problem
iii) Semi- Functional: insufficient waste handling, illegal dumping, vehicle maneuvering problem,
shortage of available area for new STS, shortage of vehicle, no tin shed, no water supply-electricity
iv) Non Functional: Collection vehicle can’t enter into STS due to poor road condition.
v) Under Construction: to be functional.

9
 Fig. 2: Different category of STS in DNCC

Among 44 STS, 9 STSs are completely functional, 17 STSs are functional, 9 STS are semi-functional,
8 STS are under-construction, and 1 STS is not operated as in [Fig. 2].

Material-Balance Requirement in STS:

Total amount of wastes hauled to all disposal sites must be equal to the amount delivered to TS
(materials-balance requirement) (Tchobanoglous et al.,1977). From survey, among 44 STS, 28 STSs
have container and 16 STSs are discharging waste directly on STS floor. By using Eq. (1) and (2) waste
amount disposed by van into different STS and then, waste amount disposed by van for all STS per
zone was determined. Similar procedure was followed to determine waste amount hauled by transfer
vehicle by using Eq. (3) and (4). Table 1 depicts that waste delivered by van is slightly higher than
waste hauled from STS because van drivers sort waste which has market value and approximate data
was used to calculate waste amount as there was no weighing machine to measure weight in STS.
Table 1: Waste disposed by Van and hauled by transfer vehicle for all surveyed STS in DNCC
Zone Waste Waste quantity hauled by Transfer Vehicle (ton/day)
disposed by Waste quantity Waste quantity (ton/day) Waste quantity
Van (ton/day) (ton/day) carried away carried away by (ton/day) carried
by Open Truck Compactor away by Carrier
1 348 518 0 0
2 380 0 65 203
3 364 369 10 51
4 313 0 28 188
5 310 0 55 224
Total 1715 1711

Zone of Coverage
By using Eq. (5) , radial distance of coverage zone surrounding surveyed STS was determined and
among 44 STSs, 15 STSs handle waste within 200-500m radius area, 13 STSs handle waste within 500-
800m radius area, 7 STSs handle waste within 800-1100m radius area, 8 STSs handle waste within
1100-1700m radius area and only 1 STS handle waste within 2900-3200 m radius area around them
and 23 STS can function within 500-550m radius area in average [Fig. 3]. This result may be helpful
for future siting criteria of STS. Along with this, population density, slope of the area, road condition
should be considered.

10
 Fig. 3: Radial distance of Coverage Zone around each surveyed STS in DNCC

Coverage area around one STS can get overlapped with coverage area of other STS(s) as in [Fig.4 (a)]
shows that coverage area has gone outside over jurisdiction area of DNCC. Using ArcGIS,[Fig. 4(b)]
shows coverage area of STS within DNCC boundary respectively.

(a) (b)
Fig. 4: (a) Coverage area overlapped with each other and gone outside of jurisdiction boundary (b)
Coverage area of STS within jurisdiction boundary
Using Eqn. 6,percentage of coverage area inside, outside of ward boundary of surveyed STSs was
calculated and result has shown in [Fig. 5].

Fig. 5: Number of STSs and their percentage range of coverage area within jurisdiction of respective
ward boundary
From analysis result, among 44 STSs, zone of coverage of only 3 STSs are lying within their respective
ward boundary by 75-100% of their coverage area which implies only 3 STSs have less positional
deviation considering their own jurisdiction boundary. Coverage area of 21 STSs are located outside
from their respective ward by 50-80%. So, coverage area of most of the STSs enters other ward. This
data helps to manipulate the transfer vehicle routing pattern.

CONCLUSION
DNCC’s step towards SWM is appreciable but it needs further revising and proper planning. The
following part addresses gap in SWM practice in our country and relating outcome of this study:

11
  In this case study, a number of issues have been found such as leachate outlet, nuisance effects,
lack of water supply and hygiene problem which shows maintenance lacking. Based on
functionality classification, 9 STS are titled as completely functional. Facilities provided by
these STS, can be used as a benchmark and it’s possible to upgrade facilities for other STSs
with respect to 9 completely functional STS.
 As average radial distance of coverage zone is within 500-550m , so it can be considered that
most of the van can carry waste from household to STS upto 550m radial distance. For future
siting of STS in other ward, location of STS can be selected so that distance between household
and STS can be located within 500-550m radial area.
 The zone of coverage of one STS can get overlapped with other STS. This study shows that
before siting a new STS, coverage area of other existed STS should be considered so that
efficiency of newly built STS can be ensured.
 As no study was made to explore areas where additional STSs can set up, Town planning
department like RAJUK should provide some space for infrastructure facilities. GIS mapping
from this study can be used to know the location of existing STS and zone of coverage of each
STS which can be helped to determine the feasible radial distance of new STS. It can help to
lessen the overlapping of coverage area with new STS and existing STS.
 GIS Mapping which shows coverage area around all existing STS can also help to decide the
location where STS could be set up in future in DNCC.
 Zone of coverage of 3 STSs are within their ward boundary by 75-100% and 21 STS’s coverage
areas are located outside from respective ward by 50-80% which shows positional deviation
resulting from improper planning of STS. Coverage area of 7 STSs are outside of the ward by
80-100% of their coverage area and waste coverage of their corresponding ward should be
checked.
 Jurisdiction area or ward boundary plays an important role for siting new STS as these STS has
been managed by Counterpart (Assistant Chief Waste Management Officer, Conservancy
Inspector of DNCC). The acting counterpart of DNCC are responsible for fixing routing pattern
of transfer vehicle and coordinating among van driver. From questionnaire survey, counterparts
were suggested that routing pattern and transfer vehicle arrival pattern would be flexible if zone
of coverage (radial distance where van driver collects waste from household and carries towards
STS) lies within ward boundary. But irregular shape of ward boundary makes this task a
complex one.
To develop a sustainable waste management system, a number of criteria such as land use pattern,
access to major transportation routes, sufficient space for onside roadways, queuing, parking, space for
recycling, composting, buffer space of that area should be considered which remains absent at present
practice by DNCC. Haul cost minimization, landfill distance, water body, waste type, future waste
generation and route map should be considered to get the proper design of transfer station.

REFERENCES
EPA. 2008. Municipal Solid Waste. Basic Information. US Environmental Protection Agency.
New York.
Jahan, I., Alamgir, M., Martens, J., & Hasan, M. M. 2009. Planning of Transfer Station for Municipal
Solid Waste Management in Khulna City of Bangladesh. International Conference on Solid
Waste Management Technical, Environmental and Socio-economical Contexts - 2009 (pp. 1-10)
Khulna, Bangladesh: WasteSafe. [Accessed 24 August 2018]
JICA and DCC, 2005. The Study on Solid Waste Management in Dhaka City, Clean Dhaka Master Plan
2015, Clean Dhaka Project.
Peavy, S.H., Rowe, R.D. and Tchobanoglous, G., 1985. Environmental Engineering, McGraw-Hill
International Editions, Civil Engineering Series, pp. 610-613.
Rahman, M.H. and Al-Mueed, A., 2010. Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, Center for Water
Supply and Waste Management, ITN-BUET.
Tchobanoglous, G., Theisen, H., and Eliassen, R. 1977. Solid Wastes Engineering Principles and
Management Issues, p.160. Newyork: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Zemanek, J., WoĨniak, A., & Malinowski, M. 2011. The Role And Place Of Solid Waste Transfer.
Polska Akademia Nauk, Oddziaá w Krakowie,Komisja Technicznej Infrastruktury Wsi,
Commission of Technical Rural Infrastructure, Polish Academy of Sciences, Cracow
Branch, 5–13. [Accessed 24 August 2018] 12