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.
On the 23 January 2025, the German project executing agency Z-U-G of Grant Programme against Marine Litter invited to a “Martkplatz” at the Z-U-G headquarters in Berlin. Heide Kerber (ISOE), Philipp Lorber, and Senta Berner represented the SCIP team at this event, which drew more than 100 participants. Senta Berner gave a short overview on outcomes and challenges surrounding informal waste workers: “Laying the Groundwork – Preparing Informal Sector Engagement in Plastic Waste Management“.
The Marktplatz was an interactive get-together where projects funded by the DeFRAG could present their current activities, exchange ideas, and connect with BMUV and Z-U-G representatives, as well as various agencies active in the field of marine litter prevention. The Z-U-G, Zukunft-Umwelt-Gesellschaft | Future-Environment-Society, also used the opportunity to announce the new call within the Grant Programme against Marine Litter.
The first big step in containing Rajbandh, Khulna’s disposal site is done! Earlier, the SCIP team identified water erosion as the leading cause of plastic emissions, particularly into the adjacent ponds. The construction of an embankment was proposed as a critical intervention to reduce emissions, not only of plastic but also of stormwater and leachate runoff.
Construction work has begun to lay the groundwork for the proposed embankment. KCC is fully supporting the venture and has provided the necessary heavy machinery to excavate old waste piles and make room for the embankment foundations. The focus of the construction work is on the western, northern, and southwestern boundaries. In these areas, leachate accumulates and tends to spill over. The construction work will be carefully documented to illustrate the challenges and opportunities encountered during the transition process from open dump sites to controlled landfills.
Landfill siting is an enormous challenge! The location must be just right, with convenient access to populated areas and a low risk of environmental contamination. However, once the operation starts, it is all about containment. Little can be changed about the siting and site design at the Rajbandh disposal site. Containment truly matters most, and the current efforts in building an embankment are an invaluable step towards a sustainable operation of the site, as well as a long-term sustainable development of the region.
With ramp systems, slope is everything! Daulatpur in-house STS now features a new ramp with an improved slope for easy waste off-loading. While assessing the in-house STS at the beginning of 2023, it became quickly evident that the steep slope of the single ramp was hampering the operation at the site.
Ramp systems are an attractive design for Secondary Transfer Stations (STS). They enable the efficient offloading from small waste collection vehicles into containers. Container haulers can pick up full containers without any additional waste transfer, resulting in equally efficient waste collection. Daulatpur’s in-house transfer station featured a ramp system with space for two skip containers. However, the original ramp, with a steep slope, made it hard to push the full, non-motorized rickshaw vans up to the platform for off-loading. The SCIP team proposed constructing an on-ramp with a reduced 1:10-slope while using the existing ramp as an off-ramp to move down the platform. On 27 October 2025, the newly constructed on-ramp was inaugurated and tested by local rickshaw van drivers. The SCIP team will further monitor operations and collect feedback from divers, supervisors, and waste pickers.
Training and sanitation facilities for staff and informal workers are now available at the Rajbandh disposal site! On 7 October 2025 , our training facility, which includes office space, a control room, resting areas and sanitation facilities, was inaugurated (photos by Amirul Islam, 2024).
The facility is located right at the entrance of the disposal site and is accessible through the main access road.
Drone image of Rajbandh entrance area by Saptarshi Mondal, 2024
The facility comprises three rooms and wash facilities, thus upgrading the operational setup at the Rajbandh site. The main goal of the facility is to improve working conditions for informal waste workers and staff by providing a covered resting area and appropriate sanitation. Additionally, the centre provides room for training activities and office space to manage site operations.
Floor plan of training facility at Rajbandh disposal site (SM Nahin, 2024).
The first training activity conducted at the facility was an occupational health and safety training session and first aid training. It took place on 28.10.2024, and was organised by the SCIP Plastics Working Groups III and Awareness Centre team.
Is waste separation at secondary transfer stations (STS) feasible? This is the question, we try to answer with our waste separation scheme at Newsprint STS in Khalispur, Khulna.
On 27.10.2024, the refurbished Newsprint STS was inaugurated. The new equipment comprises throwing sieves, wheelbarrows and sorting tools for low-cost, manual waste sorting. Four informal waste workers were employed for the operation. The workers received occupational health and safety training and instructions on the sorting process. In this test phase, we will sort biodegradable material, non-biodegradable and hazardous waste as specified in the 2021 Solid Waste Management Rules of Bangladesh. For now, the test phase will run for seven days and we will observe the technical sorting efficiency as well as operational aspects, like the occurrence of bad smells or pests. Then, we will compile results, evaluate the process and make improvements if necessary.
Photos by Sourav Saha and KUET, 2024.
Waste separation is critical for material recovery. Every time waste is mixed, moved and transferred, materials start to deteriorate. Paper is a good example. It degrades very quickly if it gets wet and cannot be recovered after a while. In the case of plastic, contamination might lead to some degradation and can cause inefficiencies in the recycling process because additional cleaning or washing procedures must be implemented. Optimally, we would separate materials at the source. In the case of household waste, this would be at the household level. However, this is not always easy to implement since it requires a strong buy-in from residents and waste collectors. With our waste separation operation at the STS, we are investigating if material recovery with our manual sorting process is a feasible alternative to source separation at the household level.
First truck monitoring campaigns have been conducted at the temporary truck weighing station at Rajbandh final disposal site.
In environmental management, we often talk about BAD – Best Available Data, knowing that available data is often of poor quality and unreliable. Our temporary truck weighing station at the entrance of the Rajbandh final disposal site is making BAD better!
For the first time, we can accurately determine waste quantities that are collected by KCC trucks and disposed of at the Rajbandh site. In July and October 2024, two measuring campaigns took place, monitoring the weight of trucks and generating over 400 data points. Currently, we are evaluating the results and blending the data with existing information from previous investigations in the project.
