1 International conference on “Industrial Waste management and Process Efficiency” Department of Civil Engineering, DUET - Gazipur, Bangladesh AN APPROACH TO TACKLING THE ENVIRONMENTAL & HEALTH IMPACTS OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE DISPOSAL IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: BANGLADESH CONTEXT Ananya Roy 1 * and Dhrubo Alam 2 ABSTRACT: Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with largely rural population. The process of industrialization in Bangladesh has grown as clusters and come to stay as hubs of business activity. Textile and leather are by far the most important industries for the economy and interestingly also most polluting. The NEMAP study in 1995 singled out the leather as the most harmful industry among a seven industrial groups. This industry is predominantly based in Dhaka; about 90% of the tanneries are situated in a very densely inhabited area of the city named Hazaribag. It is a matter of great concern that, ultimate disposal of all types of waste from most of the industries is done crudely in open dumps, lowlands or water bodies, in most of the cases, untreated and in an unsanitary manner. An attempt has been made in this paper to envisage the present scenario by describing the situation, policies outlined and steps undertaken. The study applies the concept of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to explore the best feasible options and applicable approaches of Industrial Waste Management in context of Bangladeshwith a view to achieving sustainable development. Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process; Industrial Waste; Waste Management; Wastewater Treatment. 1. Introduction Bangladesh is predominantly an agricultural country and most of her population is still rural. To achieve its development goals by 2015 through sustaining a 7% growth in GDP, the country is focusing on employment-intensive industrialization with emphasis on small and medium enterprises and export oriented industries. A large number of industries have been set up gradually since independence. There are about 28,065 manufacturing establishments, mostly located in the large towns of Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet (DoE, 2010). Future economic growth will depend more on these secondary and tertiary sectors, which are located in those urban centers, basically as clusters (Bhuiya, 2007). Nevertheless, rapid industrialization and lack of proper implementation anti pollution laws 1 Ananya Roy, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, ananya_roy88@yahoo.com * Corresponding author 2 Dhrubo Alam, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, dhrubo101@yahoo.com