Notable case, Dhaka, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh
Hazaribagh tanneries
হাজারীবাগ
A neighbourhood of Dhaka that held 90–95% of Bangladesh's tanneries, about 150 plants which in 2012 discharged 21,600 m³ of untreated, chromium-laden effluent every day towards the Buriganga River.
At a glance
- Status
- Not addressed
- Area
- 20 ha on land1
- People affected
- 200,467 (2022)2
- Media
- surface water, groundwater, soil, sediment
- Kind of site
- tanneries
- Area. About 50 acres (some twenty hectares) occupied by the tanneries inside Dhaka, according to Human Rights Watch (2012).
- People affected. Population of Hazaribagh thana in 2022 according to Wikipedia; not an estimate of the people exposed.
Contaminants
Status
Not addressed
According to Wikipedia (read in 2026) the tanneries have been moved to Hemayatpur, in Savar; the date of the move and any clean-up of the land and drains at Hazaribagh are not given in the sources read. In 2012, the year of the Human Rights Watch report, all the effluent was still untreated.
Story
In 2012 about 150 tanneries were working in Hazaribagh, from workshops with a dozen workers to plants with a few hundred, 8,000–12,000 workers in all and about 15,000 after the festival of sacrifice. Leather was a major export: 663 million dollars between June 2011 and July 2012.
No plant treated its effluent. Each day 21,600 m³ of liquid waste containing chromium, sulphur, ammonium, acids and dyes went out, along with 75 tonnes of solid waste, up to 200 at peak times. Measurements cited by Human Rights Watch give 4,043 mg/L of chromium in effluent, against a limit of 2 mg/L, and a biochemical oxygen demand of 3,600 mg/L against 100. Chromium in groundwater averaged 0.036 mg/L, about ten times higher than elsewhere in Dhaka.
The High Court ordered pollution controls within a year in July 2001, and in June 2009 ordered the tanneries to move by 28 February 2010 or close; the deadlines were extended several times. The move to Savar, with a central effluent treatment plant, had been announced in 2003: in May 2012 no tannery had started building at the new site.
Timeline
- 2001July: the High Court orders pollution controls within a year.
- 2003Relocation of the tanneries to Savar is announced.
- 2009June: the High Court orders relocation by 28 February 2010.
- 2012March: tender awarded for the central effluent treatment plant at Savar. October: Human Rights Watch report.
Health
Studies from the 1990s cited by Human Rights Watch: skin diseases 31% more frequent in Hazaribagh than in comparison neighbourhoods; among workers, gastrointestinal disease in 58% (24% nationally) and skin disease in 31% (9%); 37% reported workplace accidents.
Remediation
- —relocation of the industryRelocation of the tanneries to Hemayatpur (Savar), to an estate with a central effluent treatment plant.
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Fungi
- Bjerkandera adustaSmoky bracketSynthetic dyesEvidence: laboratory
- Cunninghamella elegansSynthetic dyesEvidence: laboratory
- Fomitopsis pinicolaRed-belted conkEvidence: laboratory
- Ganoderma lucidumReishi, lingzhiSynthetic dyesEvidence: laboratory
- Irpex lacteusMilk-white toothed polyporeSynthetic dyesEvidence: laboratory
- Lentinula edodesShiitakeSynthetic dyesEvidence: laboratory
The rest are on the contaminant pages.
Nearby
Sources
- Toxic Tanneries: The Health Repercussions of Bangladesh's Hazaribagh Leather, Human Rights Watch, 2012
- Hazaribagh Thana, Wikipedia, 2026
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.