Volunteers collected about 2,180 kg of single-use plastic waste in a clean-up near Natore stadium on Wednesday. At a discussion at the deputy commissioner's office the same day, speakers called for more public awareness of how to handle plastic and other waste properly, especially chemical, agricultural and electronic waste.
The programme was held under the Department of Environment's project on sustainable plastic use and preventing marine litter in Bangladesh. The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) provides technical support to the project and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dhaka funds it.
The discussion, moderated by Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Asma Khatun, had Deputy Commissioner Sumoni Akter as chief guest. In the keynote, UNIDO national expert S M Arafat said action must cover plastic's whole life cycle, from production and use to collection, reuse, recycling and final disposal, and stressed separating waste at source and keeping up regular awareness work.
Natore municipality administrator Shamim Hossain urged more awareness of the proper management of single-use plastic and of chemical, agricultural and electronic waste. Mehnaz Parveen Mala, executive director of the NGO Cosmos, and representatives of the Rover Scouts and BD Clean called for joint action against plastic pollution.
Citing Rajshahi as an example of a clean city, Deputy Commissioner Sumoni Akter called for bringing Natore under proper waste management and asked residents to dispose of waste only at designated places.
Rafiqul Islam, assistant director of the Department of Environment's Natore office, officials of government departments, students and local stakeholders attended. A video on UNIDO's ongoing work was shown.
Photo: David Stanley / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Source: samakal
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