National seminar on solid waste management marks World Environment Day 2026

Government officials and environmental experts have called for stronger institutional coordination and stakeholder engagement to develop an integrated national roadmap for solid waste management.

The call came at a national seminar titled "Integrated Approach for Effective Solid Waste Management", held at the Department of Environment auditorium in Agargaon, Dhaka, on Monday, 13 July, 2026.

Organised as part of programmes marking World Environment Day 2026, the seminar was jointly arranged by the Department of Environment and the WaterAid Bangladesh-Swisscontact Bangladesh consortium, with support from the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh.

Mohammad Navid Safiullah, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, attended as chief guest. Md Ziaul Haque, Additional Director General of the Department of Environment, chaired the programme.

Partha Hefaz Shaikh, Director of Programmes and Policy Advocacy at WaterAid Bangladesh, delivered the welcome remarks.

Saief Manzoor-Al-Islam, Team Leader of GO4IMPact at the WaterAid Bangladesh-Swisscontact Bangladesh consortium, presented the keynote paper.

Syed Ahmed Kabir, Deputy Director of the Department of Environment, presented a paper titled "Legal Framework, Institutional Coordination and Stakeholder Engagement in Solid Waste Management".

The panel discussion featured Professor Dr Rowshan Mumtaz, Director of ITN-BUET; Dr Tariq Bin Yousuf, Lead Environmental Engineer at the United Nations Office for Project Services; Molla Karimul Islam, Operational Head of Sustainable Finance at The City Bank PLC; Masud Iqbal Md Shamim, Director of Environmental Clearance at the Department of Environment; and Mohammad Shamsul Haque, Joint Secretary of the Local Government Division.

Bidowra Tahmin Khan, Team Leader of the InSPIRE project at Swisscontact Bangladesh, summarised the discussion and outlined proposed next steps.

"Solid waste management is no longer only a national problem; it is a global challenge. There is no alternative to coordinated action to address it," Mohammad Navid Safiullah said.

He said Bangladesh already had the necessary laws, regulations and institutional structures, but gaps remained in coordination and effective stakeholder engagement.

"To address challenges including plastic pollution, it is now timely to organise a larger national workshop involving political leaders and relevant national stakeholders to develop an integrated roadmap for waste management," he added.

Md Ziaul Haque said sustainable solutions to environmentally harmful plastic waste would require effective implementation of the three-R strategy-reduce, reuse and recycle.

"To achieve this, coordinated participation by all relevant stakeholders, including the government, non-governmental organisations, development partners, the private sector and local communities, must be ensured," he said.

Partha Hefaz Shaikh delivered the vote of thanks and formally concluded the seminar.

"To address challenges including plastic pollution, it is now timely to organise a larger national workshop involving political leaders and relevant national stakeholders to develop an integrated roadmap for waste management," he added.