Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan has urged universities to lead Bangladesh’s transition towards sustainability by declaring and maintaining plastic-free campuses, encouraging student participation, and promoting eco-friendly alternatives.
Speaking virtually from her residence in Dhaka at the “Awareness Building and Dissemination Campaign on Sustainable Plastic-Free Marine Environment”, organised under the SCIP Plastics project by Cuet at Radisson Blu Chittagong Bay View, she emphasized the importance of involving students, particularly female students, in producing paper, jute, and cloth bags.
“A generation that moves away from excessive convenience will not only reduce harmful plastic consumption but also revive local industries such as jute, boost the national economy, and promote environmentally responsible production,” she said.
Rizwana Hasan noted that the shift from single-use plastics to sustainable alternatives requires time, effort, and a fundamental change in consumer behaviour. “Consumption patterns developed over decades cannot be reversed overnight. Achieving plastic-free campuses will require sustained institutional commitment,” she added.
On the widespread use of single-use plastics, she said dependence is largely driven by convenience and the misconception that these products come “free.” In reality, plastic production involves significant costs—including labour, electricity, imported machinery, and raw materials—while ecosystems bear the hidden environmental burden.
She highlighted the importance of educating students about the sustainable lifestyles of previous generations and the ecological and economic benefits of reducing single-use plastics. Rizwana Hasan also noted that alternatives exist for most single-use plastic items, though substitutes for some products, such as disposable pens, are still evolving.
Bangladesh is well-positioned to adopt sustainable alternatives, given its ready access to jute, cloth, and other local materials. “Increasing student engagement on plastic alternatives is an encouraging sign of progress,” she said.
Referring to the Bay of Bengal as the ninth most plastic-contaminated marine ecosystem globally, she said the pollution is largely caused by poor domestic waste management and upstream inflows rather than high plastic consumption in Bangladesh. She added that recycling, while helpful, is energy-intensive and chemically complex.
Rizwana Hasan called for measures to reduce plastic use, redesign products for easier recycling, and enforce extended producer responsibility. She also pointed to global best practices, including mandatory payments for shopping bags, bottle deposit-return systems, and strict regulations, which Bangladesh could adapt.
The programme’s chief patron was Prof Ing Eckhard Kraft, project lead of the SCIP Plastics Project at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (BUW), Germany. The session was chaired by Prof Mst Farzana Rahman Zuthi, scientific director of the SCIP Plastics Project and faculty member of the Department of Civil Engineering at Cuet.
