Dr. Salim Akhter Chowdhury and Dr. Mohammed Jashimuddin, explained how a First 2006 Workshop Action Plan reorganized waste management and increased urban greening of the city. They then re-formulated the plan to launch awareness activities to promote the ‘3R’ concept at the community level.

1. The City

Greening the roadside in Chittagong

Chittagong lies where the Karnaphuli River meets the Bay of Bengal, about 260km southeast of Dhaka. It covers around 155km², and has an urban population of 3.9 million people. At present, Chittagong experiencing rapid but unplanned urban growth, as a result of which, environmental issues are emerging, such as pollution, traffic congestion, lacking solid waste management, unplanned hill cutting and poor sewerage facilities. Chittagong’s solid waste management system employs around 1,800 workers, of which 1,475 are Sheboks (street sweepers). Its trucks are powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), and waste is disposed of into two landfills. Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) greening and recycling initiatives have won the prestigious “Prime Ministers First Prize” (in 2003-04) for achievements in maintaining Chittagong as a “Clean and Green” city of Bangladesh. Successful initiatives include an annual month-long plantation fair, and water and firewood recycling projects. The Conservancy Department of CCC is responsible for the solid waste management.

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2. Action Plan Progress

After the First 2006 AUICK Workshop, the Action Plan made for Chittagong facilitated NGO and private initiatives to better manage solid waste collection and disposal. Chittagong’s urban environment suffers from the effects of unplanned waste disposal by its 35-40 health clinics and hospitals, and the destruction of its hillside greenery by unplanned development, so a two-part plan increased community waste management and treatment of hospital waste, as well as creating greening programs for the urban areas of the city. Almost 30% of the city’s Wards were brought under community level management, and Ward councilors, public and NGO staff and community members worked together to improve the organization of waste disposal. Around 45 tri-cycle rickshaw vans were introduced for collection and disposal. Regular Community motivational meetings on waste disposal continue to educate citizens and school children, under the guidance of ward councilors. The plan’s proposed leaflet distribution was not implemented, but local newspapers and public information posters raised awareness on environmental conservation. 

About 20% of polluting dustbins were moved from the communities to secondary locations, and in all 41 Wards, social and community organizations promote citizen participation in waste management, with NGO and private initiatives increasing urban cleaning activities. The component of the plan to improve hospital waste management through promotion of at-source waste destruction is still at the preliminary stage though, and advocacy for the establishment of an incineration plant has been unsuccessful. 

For the greening of the urban area, the Action Plan has increased plantation programs and NGO involvement in environmental protection. A total of 30 local NGOs are working in environmental protection with citizens. Steering committees have been formed in all wards to conduct the plantation activities. These are carried out in gardens, on roof tops, indoors, in parks and at road sides, medians, islands or any open spaces in the urban area. Training programs have been conducted in schools and colleges, and plantation activities have become part of the school curriculum, with students receiving seeds and being awarded credits for planting and nursing trees and plants.

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3. Proposed Action Plan Revision

After the successes of the First 2006 Workshop Action Plan, its revision focuses on increasing citizens’ understanding of the need to adopt the 3Rs into their daily lives. It aims to improve the Solid Waste Management system’s existing programs from lessons learned at the AUICK Workshop. Specifically, it proposes to introduce the 3R system at the community level, and then reduce solid waste generation by 10-20%. A slogan ‘Waste is Gold’ will be used to build awareness and emphasize the value of recycling, and encourage citizen involvement in environmental preservation activities. Academic and CCC participants will work together to inform and convince the Mayor and administration of the importance of promoting recycling activities. To organize specific activities, a steering committee will be set up, headed by the Mayor, and including 10-15 city officials, academic experts, NGO and community leaders. The existing tree fair and plantation programs will be continued and further promoted. As the 3R concept is relatively new to the city, a pilot Ward Committee will be formed to implement campaigns at the local level, to arrange meetings and develop and distribute information and educational materials. This awareness program will include school, college and university students and religious institutions, and recruit and train volunteers, a strategy learned from Surabaya. Community groups, each representing 50-100 households, will participate. In the pilot Ward, a local Management Information System (MIS) will be established to generate data on waste and recycling. The media will be mobilized to disseminate the plan and report on successful practices, and financial support for the program will be arranged by Chittagong City Corporation, the relevant Ministry, and national or international donors.

Chittagong Time Frame for Revised Action Plan: June 2009 – December 2010

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