Plastic waste production and management in Jashore municipality and its surrounding areas, Bangladesh: An overview

This study examines the contribution of plastics to total waste generation in Jashore district, Bangladesh. With a staggering daily production of 3000 tons of plastic waste in Bangladesh, the district of Jashore emerges as a significant contributor. A descriptive survey was conducted among 450 respondents of Jashore Sadar Upazila. Factor analysis was used based on the Likert scale to determine the people's awareness issues. The study reveals that the predominant types of plastic wastes are Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) at 40.75%, followed by Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at 28.15%, and High-density polyethylene (HDPE) at 28.10%, with the remaining 3.0% comprising other types. The most common waste management practices in both urban and rural areas of Jashore Sadar Upazila include burying (3.9%), open dumping (41.4%), open burning (32.4%), recycling (approximately 7.65%), and waste disposal in designated bins (approximately 14.7%). The open dumping of plastic remains in the environment and deteriorates the environmental quality. Descriptive analysis was done using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) model. Attitudes of the respondents were determined considering the plastic use and disposal pattern. Fourteen factors were used in this case and Eigenvalues (EVs) were considered. About 58% of the EVs were <0.5, indicating that recycling was highly encouraged. On the contrary, about 42% of the EVs were >0.5, indicating that reusing plastic waste was not beneficial for the environment. The study proposes that reusing plastic waste could play a pivotal role in reducing environmental pollution.