We work to reduce everyday polythene use by making the reasons visible and the alternatives easy. Our attention is on the thin carrier bag and the single-use wrapping that stay in a household for a few minutes and then remain in a drain, canal or field for years.
We run the programme through schools, colleges, markets and community gatherings. We hold awareness sessions with students and teachers, encourage classes and campuses to take up simple pledges, and speak with shopkeepers and customers about cloth, jute and paper bags and about reusing what is already at hand. Our clean-up and plantation activities serve the same purpose: when volunteers lift polythene out of a blocked drain, the link between a discarded bag and a flooded street is no longer abstract.
This matters because polythene waste in Bangladesh does not disappear. It chokes drainage and worsens waterlogging after heavy rain, travels into rivers and canals, breaks into fragments that stay in soil and water, and is often burned in the open, adding smoke to air that is already under pressure. Polythene shopping bags are restricted by law in this country, yet they remain part of the daily routine, so the change has to happen in the habits of households and shops.
Anyone can take part. Students, teachers, volunteers, shopkeepers, market committees and families can join our sessions, help with clean-up work, or simply carry a reusable bag and decline the one offered at the counter. Schools and community groups across the country are welcome to invite us to hold a session with them.