In August, an awareness campaign entitled ‘Embracing Alternatives: Promoting Jute Usage as a Sustainable Substitute for Plastic.’ was held as part of the SCIP Plastics Project. This awareness program focused on ‘Preventing Plastic Pollution and Efficient Management’ and took place on August 14th, at CUET School and College.
The event garnered an impressive lineup of attendees, with the Vice-Chancellor of the CUET, Professor Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Alam, serving as the chief guest. The event’s organization was managed by Professor Dr. Farzana Rahman Zuthi, the Scientific Director of the SCIP Plastics Project, who played a pivotal role in bringing the event to realization.
It commenced with an opening speech by Prof. Sudip Kumar Pal, a scientific expert of the SCIP Plastics Project, who addressed the importance of raising awareness about plastic pollution among students and teachers. To promote sustainable behavior among students, they were provided with Jute bags as a biodegradable alternative to single-use plastic bags. Subsequently, other appreciated guests delivered insightful speeches, underscoring the necessity of proper plastic waste management. Professor Dr. Farzana Rahman Zuthi announced that such programs will be conducted regularly, marking just the beginning of their efforts. The program concluded with a lunch session, fostering engagement and dialogue on the urgent issue of plastic pollution.
The use of Near-Infrared (NIR) technology is widely used in automated waste sorting industries due to its ability to quickly and accurately identify and categorize different types of materials. These scanners emit light in the near-infrared spectrum and measure the reflected or transmitted light from the waste materials. Each material has a unique absorption pattern, allowing the scanner to determine the type of plastic material. The SCIP Plastics team from the Waste Lab now operates a handheld NIR scanner that can be used universally, not only to investigate purity levels or qualities, as in materials science, but also to identify different types of plastics in mixed solid waste.
However, contrary to the industry, automation of waste sorting is not the aim of our research. We aim to create a knowledge pool of information about the types of plastics present in our environment. What types of plastics end up in our environment and what damage do they cause? What possibilities for prevention are available to us and how can we evaluate them? With the vast variety of different plastic materials, properties, and production methods, we need to find numerous treatment approaches, since there is no “one size fits all” solution. We urgently require more analytics to ensure safe and healthy treatment options to develop knowledge-based countermeasures.
In June, Senta Berner (BUW), Philipp Lorber (BUW) and Heide Kerber (ISOE) travelled to Bangladesh to meet with the SCIP Team at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology and Khulna City Corporation. Various excursions, workshops and working group meetings were on the agenda.
An important task during the visit was the further development of environmental monitoring at the open dumpsite Rajbandh. During an on-site visit, the fencing was examined and appropriate approaches for the monitoring of plastic emissions were derived. The team also visited the Sholua landfill site, which is currently under construction and will be the first sanitary landfill in the region. At the end of the stay, the German team conducted a workshop on source-separated waste in the project’s own Awareness Centre, where the SCIP-Team discussed the various challenges, both in the technical and socio-cultural context.
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 May 2023, after two visits of German SCIP members in Bangladesh, three delegates of our implementing partners in Khulna and Chattogram are visiting Germany. Prof. Dr. Muhammed Alamgir and Prof. Dr. Md. Rafizul Islam, both Khulna University of Engineering and Technology and Prof. Dr. Mst. Farzana Rahman Zuthi from Chittagong University of Engineering and Technoilogy start their residence time in Weimar at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar meeting the local SCIP team under the lead of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Eckhard Kraft.
Apart from joint excursions, several project meetings and sightseeing the international guests are giving insights of their work to German students in environmental engineering. The delegation will also visit the Institute for Social-Ecological Research in Frankfurt.
As a student at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, I had the great opportunity to accompany the project work on site in Bangladesh in March as part of my bachelor thesis. I was particularly captivated by the work carried out at the KUET campus, as it fostered a close and direct interaction with the students and project staff. In this context, we were able to facilitate a waste sorting workshop, previously tested in Germany, which served as a foundation for data collection by the individual working groups.
The process of waste sorting comprises several steps of screening and subsequent sorting. Despite initial difficulties, the best possible implementation of waste sorting was found on-site and key aspects were comprehended. The workshop fostered practical collaboration and laid a solid groundwork for the project’s future progression.
About me: My name is Lucie Naumann and I recently completed my bachelor’s thesis at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, wherein I investigated the potential of plastics recycling in Germany and Bangladesh. This research provided me with the valuable opportunity to actively participate in the SCIP team’s activities, including on-site engagements in Bangladesh.
On the 2nd March 2023, the official inauguration of the newly established Awareness Centre was held at Khulna City Corporation Building (Nagar Bhaban). The occasion was graced by Mr. Talukder Abdul Khaleque, Mayor of KCC in Khulna, as the Chief Guest. The program commenced at 11:30 am, with Mr. Khaleque officially inaugurating the AWC by cutting the ribbon. SCIP members from KUET, ISOE and BUW were present to witness this significant milestone in the project. The Awareness Centre is envisioned to serve as a potential exemplar for all other city corporations in Bangladesh, aiming to raise awareness among citizens regarding environmental issues by addressing plastic waste as a grave environmental threat.
As an official event, the WasteSafe played a pivotal role in bringing back the German SCIP members to Bangladesh. However, the project has witnessed significant advancements both before and after the WasteSafe event held on February 25th and 26th. In addition to the official proceedings, the project team conducted a series of collaborative activities and field visits. Team-building activities, such as workshops on a boat in the Sundarbans following the World Café approach, and various field visits to recycling shops, landfills, and jute factories, have contributed significantly to the further development of the project.
A considerable number of SCIP team members present their work at the 8th WasteSafe International Conference on Integrated Solid Waste & Faecal Sludge Management. Members of the projects different working groups show and discuss recent progress and issues within the scope of the SCIP project.
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.
