[🇧🇩] Save the Rivers/Forests/Hills-----Save the Environment

[Saif]

Why mass awareness matters for environmental protection

Mass awareness is crucial to protect environment as it is being polluted in various ways including single-use of plastic bottles. The environment is also being polluted due to liquid waste from factories, waste from kitchens and restaurants, smokes from vehicles and brick-kilns. Battery-run...

en.prothomalo.com

Why mass awareness matters for environmental protection

Rabiul Islam
Journalist at Prothom Alo
Updated: 05 Jun 2025, 21: 19

A worker sorts used plastic bottles at a recycling unit in Karachi on 12 September, 2024. AFP file photo

Mass awareness is crucial to protect environment as it is being polluted in various ways including single-use of plastic bottles.

The environment is also being polluted due to liquid waste from factories, waste from kitchens and restaurants, smokes from vehicles and brick-kilns. Battery-run rickshaws also cause environment pollution.

According to a study, plastic bottles remain in the environment for up to 450 years. These release microplastics and toxic chemicals into ecosystems and food chain.

However, there is no strong waste management system in place in the country. So the mass awareness can play a significant role to protect environment from pollution.

Environment and Social Development Organisation (ESDO), a non-profit action research organisation, in a recent study reveals that the country generates maximum 3.84 billion of single-use plastic bottles every year. Only 21.4 per cent can be recycled. The rest 78.6 per cent end up in rivers, sea and dumping stations.

As a result, plastic waste along with others causes health and environmental risks. Waste from kitchens and restaurants also clog drains resulting in water logging and environmental damage.

However, only 18.4 of urban consumers and 5.5 per cent of rural consumers are aware of the health risks caused by the plastic bottles, the study says.

On the flip side, only 3.4 per cent of waste collectors are aware of the environment pollution due to plastic bottles.

In view of the consequences of health and environmental hazards, awareness can play a key role in combatting the single-use plastic.
People in general across the country discard plastic bottles without understanding its environmental impact and ultimate health hazard.

While chatting with a senior journalist friend, he shared an experience of the awareness of German people about the environment in Germany. He said he tossed a bit of foil paper on the street from a cigarette packet as there was no bin nearby. Immediately a German woman picked it up and dropped it into a bin at distance. There is hardly any such awareness in our country.

Moreover, most of the households discard plastic bottles and polythene as solid waste. But this could be different if the plastic bottles and polythene were separated from the rest and then recycled.

In this context, the government and non-government organisations can play an important role in creating mass awareness. The government can launch massive campaign about the environmental and health hazard of plastic bottles. A social campaign engaging political parties, local communities and schools, colleges and university students can also be taken across the country to create awareness among the people.

Earlier, voluntary organisations and scouts would launch campaigns about the environment pollution. But those activities are not seen now-a-days. But those activities could be revived. Given the degradation of environment, the government should chalk out various programmes to create awareness about the environment pollution.

Various committees at the ward, union, upazila and zila level can be formed to implement the programmes. These committees can hold rallies and discussions on the health and environment hazards of the plastic bottles.Moreover, the government can make policies and formulate laws to reduce the production of plastic bottles on the one hand and fine those who discard these bottles here and there.

The political parties have also a responsibility to carry out mass campaigns to create awareness among the people. But it is noticed that the political parties hardly bother with these social activities. But it is urgent to save the environment to lead a healthy and peaceful life free from environment pollution. People have been suffering from various diseases like cancer, asthma and more due to environment pollution.

Alongside carrying out studies and research on the environment pollution, the government can immediately take some steps to fight environment pollution. Mass campaigns can be one of the steps that can help reduce environment pollution. It is expected that the government will in no time do something for the environment and the human beings.

*Rabiul Islam is a journalist at Prothom Alo.​

 

[Saif]

The silent plastic crisis in rural Bangladesh

Plastic pollution is not solely an urban issue.

www.thedailystar.net

The silent plastic crisis in rural Bangladesh

While cities like Dhaka and Chattogram often dominate discussions on plastic pollution, the rural and peri-urban areas of Bangladesh bear a silent but severe brunt. PHOTO: ANISUR RAHMAN

Sumon runs a small tea stall. Every morning, he wades through ankle-deep plastic waste—a growing pile of discarded bottles, wrappers, and bags that clog the drains around his shop. "When it rains, the market floods because the drains are blocked with plastic," he says. "Business drops, and so does our hope for a cleaner place."

While cities like Dhaka and Chattogram often dominate discussions on plastic pollution, the rural and peri-urban areas of Bangladesh bear a silent but severe brunt. In rural Bangladesh, plastic waste infiltrates rivers, irrigation channels, and croplands, disrupting daily life and livelihoods. Yet, this reality rarely garners attention.

It is believed that Bangladesh produces approximately 87,000 tonnes of single-use plastic waste each year, and nearly 22 percent of this originates from rural areas. There is a notable lack of awareness regarding the environmental and health risks associated with plastic waste in rural areas. For instance, only 5.5 percent of rural consumers are aware of the health risks posed by single-use plastics, compared to 18.4 percent in urban areas. These facts highlight that plastic pollution is not solely an urban issue.

Of the plastic waste generated in Bangladesh, only 36 percent is recycled, leaving the rest to accumulate in open dumps, water bodies, and agricultural lands, exacerbating waterlogging and soil degradation. In rural areas, plastic waste mixed with crop residues blocks irrigation channels, starving crops of vital water flow. Additionally, plastic debris gathers around sluice gates, worsening persistent waterlogging.

For local farmers and traders, these seemingly small disruptions add up, impacting both their income and the local ecosystem. The impacts are further compounded by the surge in single-use plastics. Despite a ban on plastic bags in 2002, single-use plastic consumption has increased by 200 percent over the last decade, with rural areas increasingly bearing the consequences.

The government's National 3R Strategy was a step towards tackling the plastic menace through reducing, reusing, and recycling waste. However, its implementation at the grassroots level remains largely on paper. Local government institutions, particularly union parishads and municipalities, are supposed to lead the charge in managing plastic waste. But resource constraints, limited technical capacity, and a lack of structured waste management plans hinder their effectiveness.

Despite these challenges, small-scale initiatives in Bangladesh are emerging as potential game changers. The informal sector collects around 1,000 tonnes of plastic waste daily, significantly contributing to recycling efforts. However, the lack of formal recognition and support limits their impact. We are seeing the private sector also stepping into this domain. In Dhaka, for instance, Standard Chartered Bank launched a plastic exchange programme, allowing community members to trade plastic waste for cash or essentials. Replicating this initiative in rural areas could motivate grassroots communities to engage in waste collection while creating local income opportunities.

Encouragingly, a number of development platforms are working with the private sector. They are collaborating to establish and institutionalise market-centric collection hubs for plastic waste, incentivising traders to segregate and deposit waste for recycling. Such initiatives show how grassroots engagement can foster a culture of environmental responsibility, even in areas with limited waste management infrastructure.

But to effectively tackle the long-standing plastic pollution situation in rural and peri-urban areas, a few good examples are not enough; we need collective efforts and mutually benefitting strategies. First, local governments need targeted support to incorporate plastic waste management into local development plans. Waste segregation at the source, coupled with community-based recycling hubs, can lay the groundwork for more structured waste management systems.

Second, engaging local entrepreneurs in waste recycling can transform plastic from a pollutant into a resource. With technical training and seed funding, they could establish small recycling units that create useful products like eco-bricks or compost bins. In Indonesia, fishing villages have turned to innovative solutions like eco-bricks—plastic bottles filled with non-biodegradable waste used as building materials to manage plastic waste effectively. These initiatives highlight the potential of local actions in combating plastic pollution.

Third, educational programmes in schools and community centres can instil sustainable habits from an early age, reinforcing the principles of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. In Cox's Bazar, school collection systems have already been set up to teach children about waste segregation and composting, showing how early intervention can cultivate lasting environmental responsibility. Covering two climate hotspots—Naogaon and Satkhira—the WaterAid–Swisscontact consortium has engaged school-level students in clean-up campaigns, waste segregation activities, and educational programmes to instil sustainable waste practices.

Lastly, public-private partnerships must be leveraged to provide the necessary infrastructure and incentives for waste management. One example is Practical Action's initiative in Faridpur, where a circular economy approach is employed to transform previously unprofitable waste into valuable commodities. In this initiative, low-grade plastics collected from the Padma River and local communities are processed using pyrolysis technology, converting them into high-grade oil and black carbon, thus creating employment opportunities and improving waste workers' livelihoods.

We must keep in mind that the fight against plastic pollution extends far beyond urban centres. The crowded markets of a remote union in the south and the irrigation fields of the north are not just bearing the brunt of plastic pollution; they are also fertile grounds for solutions. With the right support, rural communities can transform from passive victims to active change-makers, driving localised recycling initiatives, championing waste reduction, and adopting sustainable practices.

Saief Manzoor-Al-Islam and Sabbir Rahman Khan are development practitioners.​

 

[Saif]

Bamboo as an eco-friendly alternative to wood

Search for more environment-friendly and sustainable alternatives to many familiar practices is now the trend of the time. And as a country highly vulnerable to environmental hazards, it is an imperative that Bangladesh should opt for such alternatives for as many sectors of the economy as possible

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Bamboo as an eco-friendly alternative to wood

SYED FATTAHUL ALIM
Published :
Jun 16, 2025 23:54
Updated :
Jun 16, 2025 23:54

Search for more environment-friendly and sustainable alternatives to many familiar practices is now the trend of the time. And as a country highly vulnerable to environmental hazards, it is an imperative that Bangladesh should opt for such alternatives for as many sectors of the economy as possible. With the woodlands of the country diminishing fast, the country can no more afford the luxury of cutting down its timber trees primarily for construction or woodwork. This refers to both the trees being grown for the purpose of timber and the natural forests where there are standing trees suitable for harvesting as timber. In this connection, the Adviser for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, during her first office day after the Eid holidays stressed the use of bamboo to make furniture instead of wood. Though bamboo is not wood, but a kind of fast-growing hollow-stemmed plant, it is nevertheless used in ways similar to wood. It is definitely a green alternative to synthetic materials like plastic. And by popularising bamboo as a major ingredient of furniture, pressure on wood can be reduced. Bamboo, which is a member of the Poaceae, that is, grass family, grows in abundance in the country's tropical climate. Use of bamboo in the rural area is widespread as a building material for thatched houses, i.e. those with their roofs made from dried grass or straw. However, with the expatriate workers from rural families sending remittance from abroad, the dominant trend in the countryside now is to replace thatched houses with tin sheds on cement floors. Such houses are considered a symbol of status. So, one can see fewer main dwellings or primary residences with thatched roofs on bamboo walls in the rural areas nowadays. Of course, sitting rooms, maybe kitchens and cowsheds still have thatched roofs. Be that as it may, bamboo has a hundred and one other uses as handicrafts including bamboo mats (chatai), winnowing fans, flat baskets (dalas), fishing traps, sieve or strainers (chaluni), toys, musical instruments, to name but a few. It has also its industrial use as a raw material (bamboo pulp) for paper mills. Once there were entire rural communities in the past whose main occupation was making various household articles from bamboo. One would come across such bamboo-made articles at the village haats or fairs. The traditional arongs, or large Bengali New Year's day village fairs, are the special events when village communities like the nolos (people whose occupation is making various household items from nol, or reed) would sell their bamboo works. Notably, bamboo is also a kind of reed. Needless to say, the survival of such communities who crafted items from bamboo encompassing a wide range of applications from carpentry, furniture-making, weaving to construction was possible only because the countryside in the past had natural bamboo grooves in large numbers.

Unfortunately, with the ever-receding forestlands due to urbanisation, the natural bamboo bushes, too, are getting thinner by the day. In that case, replacing wood with bamboo for making furniture, as the Adviser for Environment has suggested, cannot be a feasible option depending wholly on the still existing natural bamboo groves. The government will have to invest generously in this sector, incentivise entrepreneurs to commercially grow bamboo bushes. Of course, that has to be done without seizing or harming croplands.​

 

[Saif]

undefined | The Financial Express

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ministry plans to sell 2.8m jute bags at subsidised rates

REZAUL KARIM
Published :
Jun 17, 2025 00:30
Updated :
Jun 17, 2025 00:30

The Ministry of Textiles and Jute (MoTJ) has come up with a plan for selling 2.8 million pieces of jute bags at subsidised prices for the purpose of carrying commodities as alternative to poly-bags.

To this effect, the ministry has sought necessary steps from the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) for marketing such jute bags among the consumers of the capital city through the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

A project has already been undertaken under the MoTJ in this regard with a view to producing about 2.8 million pieces of such jut bags, official sources said.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting, held at the MoTJ on May 19 with its Adviser Sk. Bashir Uddin in the chair.

The main purpose of the initiative is to promote and encourage the use of environment-friendly jute bags as an alternative to polythene bags for the sake of protecting environment.

The project has been undertaken with the funding support of Bangladesh Climate Change Trust (BCCT), according to officials.

Under the project, about 2.8 million pieces of jute bags will be sold at subsidised prices in Dhaka Metropolitan City for the purpose of carrying commodities, according a document prepared by the MoTJ.

The Department of Jute (DJ) under the MoTJ is implementing the project, it was learnt.

But it is not possible for the department alone to complete the sales of such jute sacks due to the lack of its necessary manpower and experience to this effect, it mentioned.

As per the decision of the meeting, the commerce ministry is to issue necessary instruction to the TCB in this regard, a senior official of the DJ said.

When contacted, a commerce ministry official said: "We have received a letter from textiles and Jute ministry with regard to taking necessary steps for distributing such jute bags by the TCB."​