Key effort of working group II is the elaboration of business incentives for targeted collection and provision of mismanaged plastic waste while balancing additional expenditures for KCC providing safe treatment and deposition. Challenges and opportunities lie in the synergies that need to be transferred into a win-win business model, which overall prevents open and uncontrolled pollution of plastics.
In the past weeks members of working group II intensively developed a business model concept to tackle mismanaged plastic waste with the help of local private recycling actors. Corresponding to the project’s working packages a pilot study will be conducted to implement and evaluate this new business model. During March 2024 several meetings with involved stakeholders resulted in the official kick-off for the pilot study on business model implementation. KCC officials and representatives from the local recycling sector fortunately assured their commitment and contribution for this endeavour.
I’m Sadia Afreen, from Bangladesh. Since autumn 2022, I have been working as student assistant in the SCIP project at ISOE.
About me: I got my bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in Bangladesh. After my bachelor I had worked in the Institute of Water Modelling in Dhaka, before I received a DAAD scholarship for the Master program “Tropical Hydrogeology and Environmental Engineering (TropHEE)” at the Technical University Darmstadt in 2021.
Prior to my involvement in the SCIP project, I had no clue about Bangladesh’s waste management systems, as my work experience focused on water issues. When I attended a course on the German Waste Management System, I had two “aha-moments”: First, I understood waste is no useless dirt, but a resource; second, I realized how rudimentary and lacking behind standards my home country’s waste management system is. This made me feel disheartened. However, working at SCIP gives me the opportunity to contribute to the solution of the critical issue of waste management in my home country.
From my work experience in the water sector, I know how difficult it is to coordinate between the relevant actors involved. Indeed, this has often hindered progress in problem solving. The common challenges in both the water and waste sectors are limited infrastructure, political instability, and most importantly, public awareness. Through extensive literature research, I have gained a comprehensive understanding of waste management in Khulna as well as other countries in the global south. I have studied issues related to waste collection, disposal, and recycling. It was particularly exciting for me to learn more about the role of the informal sector in waste management. In many places, the informal sector makes an important contribution to waste management. However, society and local authorities often ignore this contribution. Therefore, I appreciate that we, in SCIP, pay special attention to the informal sector. It is important to consider their key role in order to develop inclusive, socially and environmentally sustainable waste management solutions.
At ISOE, I have the privilege of meeting people from different disciplines, including sociology, human geography, biology, physics, and engineering, among others. They all bring their own unique perspectives and insights to the projects they are working on. In Bangladesh, it is a bitter truth that most people with academic backgrounds who are not engineers or medical doctors are not valued. The general assumption is that their work does not add value to society. However, while working at ISOE alongside these experts, I was amazed at their extensive knowledge and skills, as well as their ability to think creatively and lead projects to success.
Working at ISOE is a nice experience for me because the working environment is very welcoming. There is a lot of emphasis on work-life balance, which was previously neither imaginable nor feasible for me in Bangladesh. On my first day at work, I was fascinated and amazed when one of my colleagues gave me a detailed tour of the office and showed me everything, from the stationery to the kitchen. In Bangladesh, newcomers rarely receive such a detailed tour and not even shown the emergency exists.
But not only the ISOE team is great, but the whole SCIP team in Weimar, Khulna and Chattogram is very friendly, understanding and open-minded.
I am really looking forward to continue working with ISOE and within the SCIP project. Let us work together towards creating a better world not only for ourselves but also for future generations to come.
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” Albert Einstein
About me: I got my bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in Bangladesh. After my bachelor I had worked in the Institute of Water Modelling in Dhaka, before I received a DAAD scholarship for the Master program “Tropical Hydrogeology and Environmental Engineering (TropHEE)” at the Technical University Darmstadt in 2021.
In order to create mass awareness about the adverse impacts of plastic pollution on the environment along with drawing attention to research activities to find alternative solutions that reduce plastic use, CUET SCIP plastics project team arranged a round table seminar at hotel Peninsula, Chattogram on 14th november 2022. Md. Rezaul Karim, honorable mayor of Chattogram City, graced the program as chief guest, and vice chancellor of CUET Prof. Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Alam, member of UGC and Scientific expert Prof. Dr. Muhammed Alamgir attended as special guests. The honorable guests shared their key note speech, governing body of SCIP Plastics Project team officials, funding agency of the project & other stakeholder discussed in detailed information related to the project & seminar.
Representatives of the project team of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and Institute for Social-Ecological Research went on the kick-off trip to Bangladesh at the end of September. The main purpose was the official kick-off meeting with institutional and political partners at the large auditorium of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology on September 24th where the different local project teams finally met physically.
In the following days, the project delegation met with the various implementing and political partners in the region around Khulna to consolidate cooperation and coordinate the further course of the project.
Joint excursions and workshops gave the international project partners the opportunity to get to know each other better and to intensively extend the work in the working groups on site, which up to now has mainly been coordinated online. Part of the project team from Weimar then continued their journey to Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology to take part in official SCIP Plastics kick-off events and meet local partners.
On 22nd August 2022, Department of Civil Engineering, CUET inaugurated the SCIP Plastics Project’s office in the presence of vice-chancellor Prof. Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Alam who attended the program as the chief guest, along with special guests’ faculty of Civil Engineering’s dean Prof. Dr. Md Mainul Islam and head Prof. Dr. Asiful Haque. During the program, Prof. Dr. Farzana Rahman Zuthi, Scientific director and Prof. Dr. Sudeep Kumar Pal, scientific expert discuss about the project objectives and outcomes to the audience. SCIP members from BUW, KUET, and ISOE were connected to this program via online. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Eckhard Kraft, George Biastoch, Prof. Dr. Muhammed Alamgir, Prof. Dr. Md. Rafizul Islam and Abir Ul Jabbar sent their special video messages for the program.
Today, a significant milestone has been achieved. The project consortium has officially formed itself as a managing body known as the Board of Directors. The consortium includes the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the Institute for Social Ecological Research, the Kuet University of Engineering, the Chittagong University of Engineering, and the Khulna City Corporation. Together, they constitute a comprehensive entity that not only oversees and guides the technical direction of the developed content but also represents these contents externally. This approach establishes a professional authority within the project framework, assuming the role of the primary contact for the knowledge transfer hubs. The board convenes every six months to deliberate, evaluate, and make decisions concerning the SCIP Plastics project and the expansion of the Knowledge Transfer Hub’s waste management expertise.
The members of the Board of Directors are:
Project Lead:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Eckhard Kraft, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Prof. Dr. Md. Rafizul Islam, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology
Prof. Dr. Mst Farzana Rahman Zuthi, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology
Mr. Abir Ul Jabbar, Khulna City Corporation
Supervisory Board:
Prof. Dr. Muhammed Alamgir, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology
Prof. Dr. Quazi Hamidul Bari, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology
Prof. Dr. Kh. Mahbub Hassan, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology
Prof. Dr. Asiful Hoque, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology
Prof. Dr. Sudip Kumar Pal, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology
The project teams in KUET, CUET and KCC are filling with life and the working groups are being formed. Today ther first all hands meeting of all the new and familiar faces involved in the project took place. Preparations are underway, soon the working groups will be confirmed and the Board of Directors will be constituted. An exciting and challenging task waits and to work with such a large team of motivated people is delighting. The meeting today created a sense of confidence, and the forthcoming inaugural assembly in Bangladesh is eagerly anticipated. Welcome on Bord, everyone!
The German partners of SCIP Plastics came together in Weimar May 12th to officially kick-off their partnership in the project. The meeting was used to address both sides’ expectations as well as administrative procedures, communication strategies and aspects of the upcoming collaborative workflow.
Approximately 480 tonnes of waste end up of the streets of Khulna, the largest city in the densely populated Ganges Delta, every day. This waste includes huge quantities of plastic, which then makes it way into the ocean via the adjacent waterways. If nothing is done to stop this, ocean contamination will continue to increase. The goal of this joint project is to establish a sustainable waste management system in Khulna to reduce plastic pollution and to protect marine ecosystems. The project, which is being funded with nearly four million euros, will be implemented under the leadership of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar until 2024.
