Saturdaay, Decembeer 24, 2016

http://daillyasianage.com
m/news/422995/a-journey-oof-pollution-ffrom-hazaribaagh-to-savar

A journey of pollutioon from Hazarib

bagh to Savar
M S Sidddiqui
Tannery is possibly has
h the higheest level of waste
w
dispossal among the industries.. It has been
t large num
mber of chem
micals used in the tanninng process iss
reported that only about 20% of the
% is released as waste.
absorbedd by leather, the rest 80%
The chem
mical used during
d
the sooaking, tanniing and post tanning processing of hides
h
and skinns
are mainlly include so
odium sulphite and basicc chromium sulphate inccluding non-ionic wettingg
agents, bactericides, soda ash, CaaO, ammoniium sulphite, ammonium
m chloride annd enzymes.
Others arre sodium biisulphate, sodium chloritte, NaCl, H22SO4, formicc acid, sodiuum formate,
sodium bicarbonate,
b
vegetable taannins, syntaans, resins, polyurethane
p
, dyes, fat em
mulsions,
pigmentss, binders, waxes,
w
lacqueers and form
maldehyde. Various
V
typess of processees and finishiing
solvents and auxiliaries are used,, as well.
w
soil, and
a food, annd
Chromiuum is a naturaally occurrinng heavy meetal that can exist in air, water,
common exposure paathways incllude ingestioon, inhalationn, and dermaal contact. Itt can be the cause
c
of large number
n
of illness such as allergy, ecczema and deermatitis.
Tannery creates dusts, fumes andd malodors which
w
can afffect differennt part of thee lungs. Solidd
wastes annd toxic watter are mainly generated in the tanneeries, and thee main sufferrers are those
people, thhe workers, who live in the centre annd surroundiing areas of Hazaribagh.
Occupatiional Health hazards amoong the workkers of tanneery industriees are not onnly a matter of
o
concern in
i developin
ng country likke Bangladeesh but also in
i western countries as well.
w
Studiess of
leather-taannery work
kers in Sweden and Italy found canceer risks betw
ween 20% annd 50% of the
workers which
w
is abo
ove expectation in case of
o their deveeloped and saafer health conditions off
their inhaabitants.
About tw
wo million peeople die annnually across the world due
d to chem
mical related diseases
d
whiile
about 1600 million people are affeected by suchh diseases. Therefore
T
thee occupationnal hazard am
mong
tannery workers
w
in Bangladesh
B
iss also an alarrming issue unlike the world.
w
i
to health in thee short term such as sulfu
furic acid andd
Some of these chemiicals can be injurious

sodium sulfite which can burn tissue, eye membrane, skin and the respiratory tract.
On the contrary, some chemicals like formaldehyde, azocolorants and pentachlorophenol which
are confirmed or potential human carcinogens show symptoms or health effects years after
exposure to them. However, though illness among these tannery factory workers is quite a
serious issue, there is still no monitoring and action taken by the law enforcements of
Bangladesh.
It is also observed from the report of Human Right Watch (2012) that 58% of these tannery
workers in Bangladesh suffer from gastrointestinal disease, 31% from skin diseases, 12% from
hypertension and 19% from jaundice. A range of other health conditions including prematurely
aged, discolored, itchy, peeling, acid-burned, and rash-covered skin, fingers corroded to stumps,
aches, dizziness and nausea and disfigured or amputated limbs have been displayed by the past
and present tannery workers.
The best solution is the waste management and proper use of residue. Waste materials that are
generated must be recovered for reuse and recycling to reach the goal of `using everything,
nothing left`. Chrome split and shavings are two vital waste streams that need to be handled
expertly.
There are two approaches to the waste: by-products problem that deal with tanners, minimizing
the quantity of waste generated and maximizing the return on by-products. Most of the tanneries
do not have proper effluent plants and generate 20,000m3 tannery effluent and 232 tons solid
waste per day. Tannery liquid and solid wastes are a potential pollutant but also have a potential
value. Specific technologies to convert wastes are required. These vary from crude and simple to
highly sophisticated and complex.
There are about 49,300 tons of solid wastes generated every year from tanneries in Bangladesh.
The policy maker should try to facilitate growth in industries which can use these wastes to make
othervalue added products. A by-product manufacturing unit for recovery of chrome and protein
recovery and energy generation could be useful options.
The tannery industries of Hazaribagh area of Dhaka city are processing some 220 metric tons of
hide a day with an associated release of 600 -1000 kg of solid waste for each ton of processed
hide.
At present, some mills and many locals are involved in converting the solid wastes into proteinconcentrate for mixing into poultry feed. Each large mill produces 200-250 tons of proteinconcentrate per day. But, a study conducted in 2007 by Dhaka University and Bangladesh
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) revealed higher amounts of chromium in
eggs and poultry meat than the tolerable limit.
The maximum chromium content of solid waste was found to be 3.2037%. Data analyses showed
that boiling and drying treatments brought no significant change in chromium levels in collected
samples. Protein-concentrate sampled from a feed mill at Hazaribagh produced chromium
content ration of 2.4901% as element. Cadmium, lead, arsenic, and mercury contents of all

samples were also determined. This may be another treat to health of consumers as a whole.
Government is in process of shifting Tanneries in Hazaribagh to Savar in order to save city from
pollution. Government only allocates industrial plots to influential Tanneries and does not
arrange other facilities. There about few thousands shop and workshops in Hazaribagh.
There is no space for support industries like equipment and part manufacturers nor any space for
chemical shops. Government also failed to realize to arrange accommodation for thousands of
workers and staffs now serving the industries.
The location of Leather institute within Hazaribagh and some other laboratories set up the
chemical suppliers also at the door steps of tanneries to give technological support have no space
at Savar. There are thousands of people live on low income day laborers, small traders and some
other user of wastes for some other application cannot get accommodation overnight at Savar.
This dislocation will impact livelihood of many and the cost of production of leather will go up.
Government is in process of setting up central liquid affluent treatment plant (ETP) for last on
decades and so far completed 80% of the works as reported by relevant authority.
There is no plan for dispose of solid waste. The experience says that the ETP run by government
will not work properly and they will not use right chemical and right quantity for treatment of
waste water. These re-located tanneries may cause same pollution at Savar. The pollution will
spread over nearby village and paddy fields.
The Government should initiate training and support the tanneries for strict water management
systems, float recycling,segregation of streams (especially chrome bearing), segregation of solid
waste, avoidance and monitoring ofbanned, hazardous substances, desalting of wet salted hides
and skins, hair-save unhairing, low ammonium salts deliming, full-scale chrome management,
low-energy drying, solar appliances, water-based finishing and simple energy saving methods.
The waste management is an ordered set of preferred practices that can be used to reduce the
amount of waste being disposed. This has five components, generally ordered in decreasing
preference as follows: (i) waste minimization, (ii) reuse, (iii) material recycling, (iv) energy
recovery and (v) waste disposal. Therefore, the higher levels of the hierarchy are more
environmentally benign than the lower level in most cases; with landfilling waste in the ground
as the least desirable approach to waste management.
Landfill has been widely practiced for disposal of chrome -containing tannery wastes. This is
rather expensive as because of fewer landfill sites and transportation cost increases and
environmentally in appropriate way of handling a waste material that has the potentiality for
utilization.
The tannery park should arrange accommodation of all stakeholders like workers, low paid
staffs, SME industries and chemical traders. Scholars, environment specialist, columnist,
journalist, and NGO experts are very conscious about the environment of Hazaribagh and Dhaka.

They must now go for a campaign to ensure zero disposal of waste (both liquid and solid) to
avoid similar pollution at Savar like Hazaribagh otherwise, the environmentalist shall have to
prepare another movement to re-locate the tanneries from Saver to some other places.
A resident of Hazaribhgh says that crows like "wastes, rotten things", and, for this reason, a lot
of crows live here. Besides crows there are no birds; besides dogs and cats, there are no animals.
Therefore, in an environmental setting, in Hazaribagh, two or more creatures like workers, dogs,
cats, crows, poor people make a "mutual ecology". Can you imagine the probable scenario of
Savar after few years?
The writer is a legal economist