The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that, in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, together with Oxfam, it has put the biggest human waste treatment facility ever built in a refugee settlement into service this week.
The new UNHCR-funded facility can process the waste of 150,000 people a day, which is roughly the equivalent of the populations of the cities of Savannah in the United States or Dijon in France, said Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for Secretary-General António Guterre, during Noon Briefing at UN Headquarter yesterday.
Nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in settlements in Cox’s Bazar, including Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee settlement which alone is home to more than 630,000 people.
Being able to treat large volumes of waste on site, rather than having to transport it elsewhere, is critical to the safe and sustainable disposal of waste in emergency situations. This will significantly reduce health risks for refugees and host communities and the likelihood of the outbreak of disease.
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