People take selfies in front of a fish-shaped installation made of empty plastic bottles and cigarette filters at an exhibition in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, Jan. 5, 2023. (Photo by Salim/Xinhua)

BD Clean, a Dhaka-based youth organization, has been working for a long time on cleaning plastic wastes in the capital and elsewhere in Bangladesh.

To create awareness about plastic pollution, the organization has arranged an exhibition of portraits and sculptures made of bottles, polythene, packets of chips, and cigarette filters themed "Save Earth, Save Bangladesh." The 9-day event is being held in Dhaka.

Masudur Rahman, a coordinator of BD Clean, told Xinhua Thursday that the main target of the exhibition is to increase people's awareness of plastic and chemical pollution.

In preparing for this exhibition, he said, members of BD Clean across the country have collected chemical and plastic polluting substances such as single-use plastic bottles, foil paper, and cigarette butts from different parts of Bangladesh for more than one and a half months.

BD clean members collected them at their own expense and brought them to Dhaka by various means of transportation, and visitors understand the exhibition messages and they are taking the messages too, he said.

"And many are eager to comply. We are getting good advice from them (visitors) and they are also taking advice from us and they are also making a pledge ...," said Rahman.

"We think we've been able to reach a lot of people and give them our message and bring it into focus."

An aerial view of an exhibition in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Jan. 5, 2023. (Photo by Salim/Xinhua)

Sabrinur Rahman is an honors second-year student of Government Titumir College in Dhaka.

He visited the entire exhibition ground and said "their work has been very good. The organization gives a message that if these bottles were not collected in the environment, they could be a threat to our environment."

Such bottles are scattered in different parts of the country, and these plastics will never be destroyed. Day by day, people continue to pollute the air, water, and soil of the environment, he added.

"So what it means here is that we all have to be aware together. We need to protect our environment from pollution from these plastic wastes to improve our quality of life," he said.

People have a lot to learn from here and they will think about them and inspire the new generation to learn good things, said Sabrinur.

Photo shows a tree made out of cigarette filters at an exhibition in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Jan. 5, 2023. (Photo by Salim/Xinhua)

Another visitor, Anik Bardhan, who comes from Tongi on the outskirts of Dhaka, said the initiative taken by BD Clean is excellent. "I think this initiative will be very useful to clean the environment."

Bangladesh has a population of more than 165 million, a land area of about 148,000 square kilometers, and a very high population density.

Experts said Bangladesh's rapid economic growth and urbanization have come at a high environmental cost in terms of pollution. Not only that the pollution is impacting people's health, but also it is eroding the country's economic competitiveness.

The Bangladeshi government is cooperating with countries around the world and international financial institutions to respond to environmental changes.