In Halishahar, a dense neighbourhood in the port city of Chattogram, childhood looks very different from what it should be. Here, many children spend their days inside toxic dumps instead of classrooms. They work in waste management and recycling centres. Their job is to collect plastic, metal and anything else that can be sold. The pay is tiny. The danger is immense.
The Halishahar landfill in the Anandabazar area is one of the two main waste disposal sites run by the Chattogram City Corporation. Every day, between 800 and 1,000 tonnes of garbage arrive here. The site is already overwhelmed. Piles of waste rise like uneven hills. Trucks dump fresh loads on top of older ones. The smell burns the eyes. The air hangs heavy with smoke from slow, constant fires. This is where the children work.
The landfill is not a sanitary one. Waste is thrown in open spaces without proper environmental safeguards. Hazardous medical waste, rotting food, industrial chemicals and household garbage all mix.
There are no protective barriers. No organised system for safe sorting. No clean water source nearby. The children climb over heaps with bare hands and worn-out sandals. Cuts and infections are routine.
Many of these children are under 12. Some start even younger. They do not have masks. They breathe fumes all day. Doctors say long-term exposure can cause asthma, lung infections, skin disease and severe digestive problems. But the children keep going. Their families depend on the little they earn. Sometimes it is just Tk 100 or 150 a day.
The work is more than difficult. It is dangerous. The risk of falling, getting buried under shifting waste, or being hit by trucks is constant. Sharp objects pierce their skin. Toxic liquids burn. Yet they return every morning because survival has no pause.
Halishahar’s landfill shows a harsh truth. Child labour here is not hidden. It is part of the system. If poverty pushes children into these toxic mountains, the cycle will continue. For these young workers, the fight for survival starts long before the sun rises.
No child should have to trade health for survival. No childhood should be spent on burning garbage. Until the system changes, these young workers will continue to walk into danger every dawn, fighting a battle they never chose, in a world that continues to look away.
