Carbon debt-free future
FROM PAGE B4
success of the government which not only helped increase the forest area of the country, create tree cover along highways and basic protection in the coastal area but has also created a value chain and mindset shift among people.
It is seen worldwide that plastic consumption in any country increases simultaneously with income level, urbanisation, and economic growth. Bangladesh’s annual per capita plastic consumption in urban areas tripled to 9 kg in 2020 from 3 kg in 2005 with Dhaka’s annual per capita consumption of plastic being 22.5 kg.
Plastic is a valuable material but there is a lot of plastic pollution in the environment and only a third of the waste plastic is collected and recycled. According to a World Bank Group research, 24,000–36,000 tonnes of plastic waste are disposed of every year around canals and rivers around Dhaka only.
Plastic waste is one of the major reasons behind water-clogging after rains in urban centres like Dhaka and Narayanganj. Next time when you are stuck in traffic on a rainy day, remember that you are responsible for this as well!
However, we must start working to find a suitable, practical solution for us as well. For example, as a consumer goods company, one of Unilever’s (guiding philosophy) compass priorities is to improve the health of the planet and we intend to achieve that by putting our efforts into a waste-free future. We have taken a bold first step to challenge the problem as we wanted to contribute to finding a sustainable solution for single-use plastic and flexible packaging in cities like Dhaka and Narayanganj.
I remember my market visits to Narayanganj, a vibrant and buzzing business hub with the lowest percentage of poverty of the country. But you would still see polythene bags thrown on the roads, water-clogging and polluted Shitalakkha river.
According to a baseline study by PwC, 65 per cent of the 900 tonnes of waste generated per month is not managed properly and the overwhelming majority of unmanaged plastic includes LDPE (polybags) and other plastic groups, including multilayer packaging (MLP). These plastic wastes end up in the environment as they have less or no recycling value compared to other forms of plastic.
However, in the National Action Plan for Sustainable Plastic Management, the government has set a target of recycling 50 per cent of plastics by 2025. But this will not be possible if we do not solve the SUP issue. From Unilever, we decided that we also want to contribute to that cause by transforming the way we use resources and making an efficient ecosystem for a circular economy.
However, as a business organisation, we only have consumer insights and reach but have no experience in running social intervention projects. Thus, along with Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC), we have also partnered with the UNDP and the ESDO to start a three-year project to transform the plastic waste management of Narayanganj into a circular model through capacity building, community empowerment, and behaviour change.
As the largest municipal-backed waste management project, we have lots of learning in the initial phase of the project. The project does not aim to provide dump trucks and waste bins. Rather, we want to work with partners to change waste management practices of both consumers and collectors, by ensuring that the plastic waste has better recycling value.
Our first-year objective was to geographically reach all wards of the NCC by strengthening the existing waste collection channels and experimenting with different intervention models. Our other objective was to make the process sustainable as we are also trying to increase the income of the waste collectors and have empowered over 1,300 collectors on how to segregate waste for better value, increasing their income.
The learning is very encouraging and we are planning for systematic engagement of the government, industry peers, media and most importantly, the citizens of NCC to scale up the project. We have already started to replicate the model in Dhaka and Chattogram city corporations. We know that we will have to rewire, reengineer, and redesign many aspects of our work, but we believe the process needs to start and improvement areas will always be there.
Along with large municipal-backed projects, we have also experimented with other intervention models and partners, including start-ups to find effective, efficient, and scalable interventions to solve the plastic waste problem in Bangladesh because as per International Union for Conservation of Nature, Bangladesh could become a global waste hotspot due to rapid urbanisation and economic growth. However, the government has also taken the ambitious target of reducing the waste impact to half by 2025 and achieving a global standard level by 2030.
We believe learning from projects like the NCC Waste Management project would really contribute to formulating national-level strategy and engage people to change their attitudes and behaviour.
We do have the power to save the world together. And we have to do it because, for us and for our next generation, there is only one earth.
The author is chief executive officer and managing director of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.