Written by: Kamran Ibne Abdul Qader, Climate Change Programme, BRAC and Rukhsar Sultana, Urban Development Programme, BRAC, with carbon emission calculations contributed by Anima Ashraf, Climate Change Programme, BRAC

What once polluted our land now protects our crops in Mongla

In Mongla, where the impacts of climate change are felt daily, agriculture has both a daily struggle and a testament to climate adaptation. Rising salinity, unpredictable weather patterns, and more frequent cyclones have reshaped the region’s agricultural landscape, leaving farmers to navigate an ever-more unstable environment. Yet, amid these challenges, a new kind of innovation has emerged: sturdy, dark-coloured posts firmly embedded in the soil. 

These are not your everyday wood, nor bamboo but a new material made entirely from once discarded as plastic waste. Just months ago, plastics such as sachets, household packaging, and low-value plastic waste littered coastal settlements in Cox’s Bazar. Today, these repurposed materials stand in neat rows supporting vegetable crops and symbolising a fresh approach to climate resilience, waste management, and agricultural innovation.

Waste, fragile ecosystems, and the search for sustainable materials

Coastal regions like Mongla exist at the crossroads of climate vulnerability and opportunity. Rising salinity, frequent cyclones, and unpredictable weather are reshaping the agricultural landscape. Salinity has increased up to 8–15 dS/m during dry seasons, severely limiting crop options. Cyclones and tidal surges regularly inundate farmlands with saltwater.

Traditional materials like bamboo and timber, once used for crop support, now degrade rapidly due to moisture and salinity. Farmers find themselves replacing materials every season, creating both financial and environmental burdens.

Meanwhile, plastic pollution has become one of Bangladesh’s most pressing environmental challenges. Low-value plastics, particularly polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE), rarely make it into formal recycling markets. Instead, they accumulate in canals, landfills, and open spaces, contributing to flooding and contamination.

While agriculture suffers from material shortages, waste management systems are overwhelmed by the increased volume of unrecyclable plastics. 

Yet, sometimes solutions arise when two challenges intersect.

A visit that sparked a new idea

On 5 September 2025, a team from BRAC’s Climate Change Programme visited the Cox’s Bazar Municipal recycling facility as part of a learning field trip. What started as an exposure visit quickly shifted direction.

Under the PLEASE project grant, BRAC Urban Development Programme, as the regional block grantee had initially planned to use recycled plastic lumber for commercial products such as furniture and construction materials. However, during the visit, a simple question reshaped the project: “Could this be useful in agriculture?” 

As the team stood among recycling machinery, a spark of insight from the Climate Change Programme Head, Abu Sadat Moniruzzaman Khan, brought a new possibility into focus. If these recycled plastic beams were strong, durable, pest-resistant, and able to withstand coastal weather, why not test them in Mongla’s agricultural fields?

Turning low-value waste into high-value purpose

Each recycled plastic lumber weighs between 3.2 and 3.4 kilograms and is made from a 50:50 blend of PP and HDPE, two of the most commonly discarded plastics. Using waste materials recovered from Cox’s Bazar municipal streams, the facility produced 500 units, totalling 1,650 kilograms (1.65 tonnes) of recycled plastic reintroduced into productive use.

 (photo courtesy: Shajada Arefin, CCP, BRAC)

Unlike bamboo, which decays quickly in Mongla’s saline environment, these beams are designed to last for years. They neither rot, attract pests, nor require seasonal replacement. This innovation not only reduces the pressure on timber supply chains but also provides a sustainable solution for managing plastic waste.

For farmers, the benefits are immediate: fewer replacement costs, stronger support structures, and materials that endure Mongla’s challenging climate.

A circular economy in action

The initiative represents more than a material innovation; it is a demonstration of circular economy thinking applied in one of Bangladesh’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Coastal waste, once a disposal problem, is now a resource feeding directly into an agricultural system that faces material shortages. By transforming waste into valuable resources, this project connects two previously separate issues, plastic pollution and agricultural material shortages.

The approach also reduces carbon emissions in several ways:

• Recycling instead of disposal; Producing 1,650 kg of recycled plastic lumber through open-loop recycling generated only 10.6 kg CO₂e. If the same 1,650 kg of plastic waste had ended up in a landfill, it would have produced 14.7 kg CO₂e. These emissions are now fully avoided.
• In contrast, manufacturing 1,650 kg of lumber from virgin plastic would have generated 4,665 kg CO₂e. By using recycled material, more than 4,650 kg CO₂e has been prevented.
• Producing 1,650 kg of comparable wooden beams would have emitted 444.7 kg CO₂e, alongside the ecological cost of increased timber harvesting.

N.B. CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent) is a unit used to standardize the climate impact of different greenhouse gases. All emission factors used in these calculations come from the UK Government’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting: Conversion Factors 2024,DEFRA

In climate adaptation terms, this is more than mitigation; it is resilience. Agriculture becomes less dependent on vulnerable materials, and communities gain access to infrastructure designed for their environmental reality.

 (photo courtesy: Shajada Arefin, CCP, BRAC)

Lessons learned and the path ahead 

This is just the beginning, while there might be some scepticism and caution. Plastic waste is mostly seen as “dirty,” unreliable, and inferior. The idea of using it in something as essential as food production infrastructure requires both technical proof and emotional acceptance. The Mongla demonstration is still early, but already it illustrates several lessons for climate resilience planning: (i) Innovation often emerges when programmes collaborate across sectors. (ii) Local solutions are most powerful when designed with local context. (iii) Perception change is part of the technical process. 

Story of possibility in coastal Bangladesh

From one coastal town, Cox’s Bazar, where the waste was collected, to another, Mongla, where the solution takes root, this initiative is more than recycling. It is reimagining value, one material and one community at a time.

Each recycled plastic beam or lumber installed in Mongla’s soil carries not just weight but meaning: a reminder that resilience is not always something imported or invented. Sometimes, it is something already in our hands waiting to be rethought.