Beyond the Plastic Monster: What Bangladesh Can Learn from Sri Lanka About Clean Tourism

I had a chance to visit Cox’s Bazar in October 2026 as part of an international research team. The members were from Australia, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. I felt deeply embarrassed when I took the visiting team to Cox’s Bazar beach for recreation. What we witnessed was alarming. Plastic bottles, polythene bags, disposable cups and other waste were scattered across many parts of the beach. This was not just an issue of poor cleanliness; it reflected a serious failure of environmental awareness and management. 

What surprised me even more was that, on the flight, nearly half of the passengers were environmental professionals and activists, both local and international, working to protect Cox’s Bazar. It made me wonder! If so many people and organisations are working to protect this beautiful destination, why is the situation still getting worse? Are our efforts reaching the ground, or are we failing to turn awareness into real action?
During the latter part of that month, all of us working together on this project travelled to Sri Lanka. We visited Mirissa, a very well known coastal tourist destination. However, what we observed there was vastly different. The roads and beach are much cleaner. Public spaces appeared to be maintained to a higher standard. There were large trash bins placed in various convenient locations for tourists. We also observed a more orderly way of keeping the public spaces clean.

The experience has caused me to reflect upon how Sri Lanka is able to sustain its tourist areas. Why aren’t we able to develop a comparable infrastructure in Bangladesh?

The government of Bangladesh needs to install large-sized waste bins regularly throughout the Cox’s Bazar Beach area, tourist roads, markets, restaurants and hotels. In addition to installing these bins, they must also empty them on a consistent basis. To ensure this happens, cleaning staff should have regular work hours.

Sri Lanka has maintained this effort for the last several years. In February of 2025, the government began an island-wide beach-cleaning program as part of its “Clean Sri Lanka” project. This programme was designed to link the protection of our natural environment to growing the tourism sector in Sri Lanka.

The above examples illustrate that change is a process and not an event. Change is not achieved through a single campaign or a single awareness-raising program. Change requires policy, institution, resources, people and ongoing monitoring.

A 50-foot sculpture constructed of about five tonnes of waste plastic was recently erected at the location of Sugandha Point and Seagull Point in Cox's Bazar. This project was initiated by Bidyanondo Foundation and the district administration. It should be applauded for its innovative approach to demonstrate how dangerous plastic pollution can become.

I am very grateful for your hard work on this. There is still one thing that bothers me about the project. After tourists have taken pictures next to the sculpture, what will happen to all of the plastic bottles, food wrappers, etc., which tourists use while visiting?

If you don’t find a waste bin close to the location of the sculpture, then it may be that the sculpture becomes nothing more than a photo opportunity for tourists. 

The single thing that I noticed during our trip to Mirissa was the simple provision of large garbage cans in convenient areas. Travellers are rarely able to transport their own waste for extended periods of time. Therefore, waste bins must be placed where people need them, before people lose patience carrying their waste in their hands or bags and simply throw it away.

The government of Bangladesh needs to install large-sized waste bins regularly throughout the Cox’s Bazar Beach area, tourist roads, markets, restaurants and hotels. In addition to installing these bins, they must also empty them on a consistent basis. To ensure this happens, cleaning staff should have regular work hours. Also, waste collection trucks should run daily, particularly on weekends and other public holidays. To recover as much recyclable material as possible.

Sri Lanka provides us with a valuable example of how to manage beaches using the Beach Caretaker Programme. In this programme, residents of each area are responsible for the care and upkeep of a certain part of the coast line. Bangladesh has the potential to develop a similar programme. A partnership between the local government (district administration, municipality, etc.), tourism authorities, and private businesses could provide the necessary funding to employ local beach caretakers. This would also generate job opportunities for individuals residing within the coastal regions.

We require defined rules as well. Visitors to the area are prohibited from littering beaches and roadways. Business establishments must refrain from disposing of garbage in public areas and/or drainage systems. People who violate the laws regarding the environment will be subject to appropriate fines/punishments. Nonetheless, merely punishing individuals for violating these laws does not address the issue. Authorities must initial provide residents with adequate means for waste disposal. All components of the system (i.e., rules, facilities, and enforcement) must function cohesively.

For instance, the example of Colombo is a good one to look at. Colombo is a very busy commercial and port city with a huge population. It has a lot of traffic and there is a great deal of pressure on all of the city's public services. Like many large cities, Colombo is experiencing problems related to managing the waste generated by its citizens. However, because Sri Lanka has worked hard to clean up the streets and make sure that the environment is well-managed, these examples may provide some insight into what Bangladesh could do in order to improve conditions in some of its larger cities and tourist destinations.

We do not have an awareness issue in Bangladesh. There have been many beach cleaning events, seminars, environmental programs, etc. organized by both non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and volunteer groups.

 Both groups have contributed significantly to protecting our coastal environment. These efforts are commendable, however, a series of temporary campaigns cannot substitute for a sustained public service. We require a clearly defined Clean Tourism Policy. A well-organized waste management system must exist in every tourist area. 

We need to measure our progress towards achieving this goal by evaluating the impact we have had. Is there an increase in the number of operational trash bins? What percentage of the plastics that we collect can be recycled? Are beach cleanups becoming more frequent? Do our streets and public areas appear to be cleaner than they were previously? All of these indicators should be used to evaluate the success of our efforts rather than simply counting the number of campaigns and/or awareness raising events that have taken place.

My October trip from Cox’s Bazar to Mirissa taught me a very important lesson. Just telling someone to keep their tourist spot clean doesn’t make that tourist spot clean. It takes a system of keeping things clean, which includes making each person accountable for their own mess.

The Plastic Monster serves as a stark warning about the harm done by plastic pollution. However, the true measure of its success will be determined by what occurs daily around it. The sea doesn’t need to be reminded of what we’ve done wrong by installing yet another sculpture. What it needs is a system that will prevent us from making the same errors on a daily basis.