Fifteen years ago I was driving out of Dhaka, Bangladesh, to film a segment on family planning practices in rural villages. While looking out the window of our van as we drove past an open landfill I noticed there was not a single scrap of inorganic material to be seen. No bright red or yellow plastic containers, discarded appliances, or busted mattresses and bed frames were visible. (Not the picture above.) In fact, it appeared there was little intact organic material either. An old lady scavanging through the refuse picked up a some dried coconut husks and stuffed in her bag. I asked the driver if he had any idea what she might do with it. He said she would probably use it for stuffing mattresses, which was apparently a common practice.
The people of Bangladesh were an absolute delight and their resourcefulness in the face of limitless suffering and poverty taught me valuable lessons.
I am reminded of my time in Bangladesh after reading a post submitted by Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy to the BioEnergy listserv. His blogspot post has some good pictures and good contextual captions.
I”ve taken the liberty to copy and paste his note to Tom Miles, the BioEnergy listserv’s coordinator:
Dear All,
Recently, I had been to Bangladesh for facilitating “Workshop on Good Stoves
and Biochar”, during the field visit, I have observed the stoves and fuels.
The real challenge is that there are many types of fuels used by a family
based on the seasons and convenience. The biomass fuels are of different
shapes and sizes, the moisture content also varies in seasons. The people
consider fuel as most important and secure and store it in specially
constructed places. The resultant ash and biochar is of great value to them.
The extensive use of pottery and the resultant pottery shards and fish bones
from their eating habits, along with biochar, silt and ash add value to the
rural trash generated and contributing towards terrapreta soils.
Please see this link for details.
http://e-stovesbangladesh.blogspot.com/
Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy
GEO, http://www.e-geo.org | http://goodstove.com | http://biocharindia.com
English 
French 