Oxfam sets up world's biggest waste treatment plant in a refugee camp

With a capacity of treating waste generated by 150,000 people, Oxfam has set up the biggest human waste treatment plant ever built in a refugee camp, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

The industrial-scale plant, funded by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, can process the waste of 150,000 people – equivalent to the population of Nawabganj. The site will be officially inaugurated today in Cox's Bazar, said a press release from Oxfam, Bangladesh.

Last year more than 200,000 cases of acute diarrhea were reported in the Rohingya camps, along with respiratory infections and skin diseases like scabies – all related to poor sanitation and hygiene.

Over the last seven months, Oxfam and UNHCR engineers alongside Rohingya refugees have built the massive system with cheapest possible operation and maintenance costs. It has been specially designed for the area's steep, hilly terrain.