Some 150,000 abandoned electronic voting machines (EVMs) are posing health risks and costing taxpayers money to store, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has warned.
It pointed to serious gaps in the country’s electronic waste management.
TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman raised the concerns on Wednesday at an event in Dhaka marking International E-Waste Day 2026.
The Election Commission’s data show that the machines lie unused across 41 districts, with no clear framework defining who owns them or is responsible for their disposal.
Authorities are also paying rent for the premises where they are stored.
“We have been left in a state of complete helplessness,” Iftekharuzzaman said, describing the lack of accountability among producers, importers and users.
He said Bangladesh’s 2021 e-waste management rules were not being properly enforced because of shortages of expertise and awareness, weak coordination among government agencies and inadequate information.
“Bangladesh has many laws, but when it comes to compliance and enforcement, unfortunately, the country would probably rank near the bottom,” he said.
More than 90 percent of e-waste is collected by informal workers, who lack formal recognition and adequate protection from health hazards.
The country is also missing opportunities to recycle discarded equipment and recover materials for production, he added.
TIB is the Bangladesh chapter of the international anti-corruption organisation.
Recycling Could Create Economic Value
Saimum Parvez, the prime minister’s special assistant for environment, said rising use of smartphones, electric vehicles, batteries and digital devices was creating growing environmental and health risks once the products reached the end of their lives.
He said the government planned to promote the “reduce, reuse and recycle” approach and establish waste management centres and hubs to separate and process hazardous substances such as cadmium and lead, as well as valuable metals for domestic reuse or export.
Bangladesh would continue to prohibit e-waste imports under the Basel Convention while prioritising the treatment of domestically generated waste, he said.
Plans are also under way to establish dedicated economic zones or plants for e-waste processing, modelled on the garment industry’s bonded warehouse system.
“This cannot be achieved through government initiatives alone. Through coordinated efforts by the public and private sectors, we want to build a clean and sustainable future,” Saimum said.
Iftekharuzzaman also warned that the expansion of renewable energy would bring its own waste-management challenges, particularly when solar panels reached the end of their useful lives.
Without policies to address such waste in advance, he said, new environmental risks could emerge.