Unilever Bangladesh Limited (UBL) and CIRCULAR, an organisation engaged in plastic waste management, joined hands to collect 1000 tonnes of plastic from Dhaka in the next one year, a press release said Saturday.
The plastic wastes (flexible, single-use and rigid) will be collected from Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation from June this year to May 2023.
According to World Bank data, less than one-third of the plastic waste produced in Bangladesh is collected and only 37 percent of the collected plastic waste is recycled while the remaining is landfilled, among which an estimated 24,032–36,047 tonnes are dumped in our river system.
To prevent this environmental catastrophe caused by plastic waste pollution, Unilever Bangladesh believes it is important to build a sustainable circular loop that contributes to circular economy and sustainable development goals (SDGs). UBL, the country’s oldest and largest fast-moving consumer good (FMCG) company has built multi-stakeholder models with diversified partners to collect 10,000 tonnes of plastic from the environment by 2023.
In 2021, UBL has launched the biggest municipal backed plastic waste collection project of Bangladesh in collaboration with Narayanganj City Corporation and UNDP.
CIRCULAR’s plastic collection model will help in bringing together the waste collectors, informal collections known as tokais and ferrywalas together with the scrap dealers to form a network, increasing the transparency and traceability of the supply chain.
Zaved Akhtar, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Unilever Bangladesh Limited, said: “We want to ensure that plastic stays in the economy and out of the environment. As a responsible company, we are committed to playing our part.”
