With the final phase of the project about to begin, it was the perfect moment to take a short break! On 20. February 2025, the KUET SCIP Team joined by some German members visited “Shat Gombuj Masjid” which translates to “Sixty Domed Mosque”, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mosque City of Bagerhat and a short two-hour drive from Khulna City. Our team members, Prof. Dr. Quazi Hamidul Bari and Abdullah Al Hasan, were the perfect guides for this excursion; both have visited the mosque multiple times and could give insights into the history and significance of the site, which dates back to the 15th century.
Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) is key in keeping workers at the landfill safe. On February 18, 2025, our team began distributing gumboots, warning vests, gloves, and masks to informal workers on site. The SCIP project will provide a steady supply of PPE material to ensure that safe equipment is readily available and broken material can be easily replaced. This activity is part of the project’s efforts to improve occupational health and safety, thereby ensuring the social sustainability of any technical and operational interventions. The PPE handout is also central to our exit strategy. The SCIP team will monitor PPE consumption and provide cost estimates for KCC officials to calculate the running costs of the training and sanitation facility at Rajbandh.
What does a sanitary landfill look like? Matuail Landfill in Dhaka, operated by the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), is the closest a landfill in Bangladesh comes to achieving the status of “sanitary”. Members of the SCIP project’s Working Group III and the AWC organized an excursion to the capital of Bangladesh to see and experience first-hand the operation and structure of this site.
Over the last years, the SCIP Plastics Working Group III has been developing improvements for the Rajbandh Landfill in Khulna City. However, without practical experience, it isn’t easy to formulate a sharp and clear vision. Thus, our group arrived at Matuail with a bag full of questions: What does the operation of a permanent weighing station entail? What does an engineered 1:3 slope with a top cover look like? Do the stormwater drains and leachate drains keep those two liquids separate? How does Matuail deal with informal waste workers? Thanks to the assistance of local site engineers and technical managers, we were able to explore different areas of the site, from the active working zone, to leachate treatment.
Arriving at the site, we are checked in at a gate, and the scale of the operation becomes immediately apparent. A dedicated building for site engineers and technical staff, a large workshop and garage for the different vehicles greet us, and beyond that, mountains of Dhaka’s waste surround us. Waste collection trucks arrive by the minute, and their weight is registered at the truck scale. The site receives around 3000 tons daily and operates 24/7. Due to the congested traffic in Dhaka, waste collection is often shifted into the night to avoid compounding traffic jams. The JICA investments in the site’s design and operation are obvious: gas wells, leachate drainage, a stormwater drain, and a full-scale leachate treatment are in place. The access road and interior roads are reinforced, making waste deliveries possible, even when it rains.
At the end of our visit, our idea of what is possible at Rajbandh is clearer. At Matuail or Rajbandh, accurately weighing waste deliveries is a crucial operation for effectively managing and planning a landfill site. We have seen how RCC-roads significantly improve navigation on the site. Leachate and stormwater separation appears to be a challenging task that can fail quickly without consistent vigilance and control. Equally challenging seems the management of informal waste workers onsite. Working conditions are hazardous, and it would be worthwhile to delve more deeply into the local organization.
Our main takeaway: Rajbandh is a comparatively small operation, and it should be possible to transform the site’s operation towards that of a sanitary landfill.
The SCIP-Plastics project had the pleasure of contributing to the MariNEX Conference, held from 29 to 31 January 2025. Dr. Thomas Haupt and Senta Berner joined on behalf of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. As experts in the field, they had the honor of chairing scientific sessions and joining panel discussions. With their colleagues, Trisa Das and Md. Ajijur Rahman from the CUET SCIP team, they presented findings from the project at the 3rd scientific session, which focused on “Addressing Marine Litter at its Source: The role of land-based waste management in combating plastic pollution“.
The Awareness Center team, comprising Enjamamul Haque, Fahima Akter, and Anik Sarkar, showcased the project’s work at the conference stall and engaged with participants. In the poster session, our working group leads from the KUET team, Sourav Saha and Pangkaj Kumar Mahanta, presented findings on waste generation, waste collection, and final disposal in Khulna City.
One of the highlights of the conference was a one-day excursion into the Sunderbans, the world’s largest Mangrove forest.
The conference was organized by the Fisheries and Marine Resource Technology Discipline of Khulna University and funded by the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH). In the preparation phase, the SCIP-Plastics project and the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar supported the conference organization team in developing the vision and main themes for the event. The conference was a highly successful event that brought together diverse stakeholders from various countries and disciplines. We hope it will be the first of many MariNEX conferences at Khulna University.
