Sustainable waste management Practices in the Informal Sector Towards Industrial Symbiosis

Abstract

Industrial pollution is considered to be routed in the waste and byproducts of the production process. Traditional pollution control approaches try to eliminate and/or treat the pollutants which are usually complicated as well as expensive. In this regard, industrial ecology and industrial symbiosis have emerged as a very effective strategy to eliminate industrial pollution. This principle requires the generated waste/by-products absorbed in the same or other industrial process cycles and thus the material cycle remains closed. Industrial pollution appears as a big problem in the developing countries, where industrialization is considered as the main thrust of economic development. Usually, in such countries formal approaches for pollution control approaches are primarily directed to the formal sectors, informal sectors are often left behind. Although the role of informal sector is increasingly being recognized for sustainable development, their significance in the area of pollution abatement is a less discussed topic. This article attempts to investigate the informal industrial sector in Dhaka, Bangladesh with a detail field investigation. The results show evidence of sustainable practices and indicate existence of industrial symbiosis without technical knowledge and designed efforts. This suggests that the informal sector can meaningfully contribute to sustainable development that they show the way of applying similar approaches in the formal sector as well.