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The Environment Fair 2023 is not getting its due attention owing to a lack of promotional activities, experts, visitors and participants said on the concluding day of the event.
The seven day long fair ended Sunday with a relatively low turnout of visitors. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on June 5 along with the National Tree Fair 2023 on the occasion of the World Environment Day.
Visiting the environment fair at noon on its last day at Sher-e Bangla Nagar adjacent to Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, this correspondent saw over 50 small stalls, decorated with various items, including posters and environment friendly plans.
Participants also displayed awareness posters against plastic endorsed products, Effluent Treatment Plant or ETP, Water Treatment Plant (WTP), liquid waste treatment plants, sustainable management for plastic waste, eco-friendly technology for recycled plastic products, etc.
Talking to The Business Post, Atique Rahman, secretary of Bangladesh Water Works Association (BWWA) said people need to be informed about all of these. They should learn how they can protect the environment using the latest technologies.
Muhammad Javed Akhter Sami, who brought Jute products to display in the fair, said the government needs to keep the sustainable alternatives for environment protection in front. Technologies like ETP, WTP and others should also be presented on a prior basis.
A strong, timely campaign should have been done through the fair but somehow the organisers missed it, he added.
A first-time participant at the fair, Saiyad Nazmul Hasan, service engineer of ION Exchange, said he witnessed better response but felt the turnout was still a lot lower than expected due to a lack of promotional activities.
The actual situation would be understood when these people place orders, he added.
Meanwhile, The Business Post tried to get a comment from the organisers in this regard but no official could be found at the stall of the Department of Environment (DoE).
Participating students from different universities said they felt engaged in environmental activities through the fair.
Students from the Department of Environment from the University of Stamford (SU) and International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT) presented their innovative idea or best environment-friendly practices that could be implemented across the country.
Students from four public and private universities participated in the fair where students of University of Jahangir Nagar (JNU), Universities of Dhaka (DU) presented eco-friendly residential and industrial architecture.
One such participant, DU final year student Zareen Tasnim Aboni said the most talked about model is Eco bricks, a practice that is exercised in India and Nairobi of Nigeria.
She said the eco bricks are environment friendly and can be recycled further making it cost effective as well.
“All the investment has to be made during installing a controlled environment in the factory. Then it will be easy to go. Another challenge is extracting plastics from wastages,” she added.
