Meeting Bangladesh’s Plastic Challenge through a Multisectoral Approach

Sharp increase in plastic pollution: Numbers tell the story

With rapid growth and urbanization, Bangladesh faced a sharp increase in both plastic use and pollution. In the last 15 years, Bangladesh’s annual per capita plastic consumption in urban areas tripled to 9.0 kg in 2020 from 3.0 kg in 2005. Consumption of LDPE packaging materials (plastic bags, etc.) increased fivefold in 2020 from 2005. Of the 977,000 tons of plastic consumed in 2020, only 31 percent were recycled. Most mismanaged plastic waste was single-use plastics like shopping bags, packs, and wrappers. 

Mismanaged plastic waste are polluting cities, countryside, rivers, and canals. They clog drains, causing urban flooding. Plastic is a material that degrades slowly and into tiny particles (called microplastics), posing a significant risk to humans, marine life, and ecosystems.

The current COVID-19 crisis has only exacerbated conditions, especially from single-use plastic used in masks, gloves, and Personal Protective Equipment.

Dhaka faces higher plastic pollution than other cities

The capital Dhaka’s annual per capita plastic consumption is more than three times the national average for urban areas and stands at 22.25 kg. About 646 tons of plastic waste is collected daily in Dhaka, which is 10 percent of all wastes generated in Bangladesh. Only 37.2 percent of the plastic waste in Dhaka is recycled.

The average per capita plastic consumption in European countries is more than 100 kg -- much higher than in Bangladesh. But Bangladesh is one of the top plastic polluted countries due to mismanagement of plastic waste.

Towards sustainable management of plastic

In this circumstance, sustainable management of plastic will be crucial for Bangladesh to tackle the increasing plastic pollution and ensure green growth, says a new World Bank report, ‘Towards a Multisectoral Action Plan for Sustainable Plastic Management in Bangladesh.’

The report provides a blueprint for managing plastic pollution over the short term (2022–2023), medium-term (2024–2026), and long-term (2027–2030), which will require an integrated cross-sectoral approach. The National Action Plan for Sustainable Plastic Management focuses on circular use of plastic, based on a 3R strategy: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. A circular economy will create new value chains, green skills, jobs, and innovative products while addressing social and environmental challenges. 

There is no one single solution. Rather, solutions and transformative opportunities exist in the entire value chain of plastics: design, reduced use, improved waste management, behavioral change, reuse, repair, and recycling. This will require a multistakeholder, multisectoral approach that focuses on a circular economy.

Bangladesh progressively took steps in curbing plastic pollution, with varied outcomes: in 2002, Bangladesh was the world’s first country to ban plastic shopping bags. But, after some time, plastic use and mismanagement increased again. The Jute Packaging Act 2010 for six essential items (paddy, rice, wheat, maize, fertilizer, sugar) promoted an alternative to plastic packaging. In 2020, a High Court directed concerned authorities to ban Single-Use Plastic in coastal areas and in all hotels and motels across the country. 

Along those same lines of going back to their heritage, Bangladeshis are embracing the earthen pots, used by their forebears. What’s tradition is leading towards a new direction.

To make the initiatives stick there needs to be wider buy-in from all stakeholders, including the government, the private sector, development partners, and citizens which will be important.

Managing plastic pollution will be important for attaining Bangladesh’s vision of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2031. For this, the country needs pragmatic action plans to beat plastic pollution and become a pioneer in green growth. 

To this end, the National Action Plan for Sustainable Plastic Management sets a target of recycling 50 percent of plastics by 2025, phasing out targeted single-use plastic by 90 percent by 2026, and reducing plastic waste generation by 30 percent by 2030 from 2020/21 baseline.

A close and coordinated approach will be important to attain the targets, and for which, it will be critical to identify policy and regulatory reforms, economic instruments, technology and infrastructure, and capacity building. So will be awareness generation and behavioral change communication.