A tested model — formalized collection, local recycling, digital traceability, and women-led entrepreneurship — shows how cities can cut pollution, create green jobs, and generate revenue.
By Md. Obidul Islam, Programme Manager, UNOPS
Every day, we see urban Bangladesh generate nearly 25,000 tonnes of solid waste — a tidal wave of discarded materials that our cities still struggle to manage. A large share of this is plastic, with our country producing over 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste daily. The waste that is collected often ends up in open dumps or landfills, releasing methane, polluting our water, and threatening public health.
Among urban waste, plastic—particularly single-use plastics and banned polythene—remains one of the most persistent challenges to sustainability. While plastic recycling in Bangladesh is a thriving sector, it often operates informally and with significant environmental and social risks. The PLEASE project has strengthened the environmental and social standards of this sector, making it more resource-efficient, profitable, and safe, while promoting sustainable practices that reduce pollution, waterlogging, and plastic-choked waterways.
Across our cities, waste has become one of the biggest challenges to how we live and breathe. Roadsides overflow, canals clog, and the air grows heavier as plastic and methane from landfills pollute the environment that sustains us. Yet, in our work, we are constantly driven by one pressing question: what if this mountain of waste could become a mountain of opportunity? What if our discarded bottles and packaging could generate clean energy, create green jobs, and fuel a circular economy?
This transformation is already happening. Through the PLEASE project — implemented by the South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP) with support from the World Bank and implementation support from UNOPS — we have seen proof that circular solutions are not only possible, but practical, scalable, and sustainable.
Over the past 18 months, the PLEASE project has transformed Bangladesh’s waste challenge into a model of opportunity — integrating circular infrastructure, inclusive employment, financial sustainability, innovation, and community empowerment. Together, these pillars show how circularity can work at scale in developing economies facing rapid urbanization and environmental stress.
In Cox’s Bazar, BRAC operates a plastic recycling facility that processes about five tonnes of low value single-use plastics per month, including banned polythene-a critical problem that remains unmanaged, with its use having increased by a large number since the ban. These materials, once polluting beaches and waterways, are now transformed into plastic sheets and lumber used for climate-resilient toilets and small-scale infrastructure in coastal communities.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Petrochemical Company Limited (BPCL) has established seven Recycling Business Units (RBUs) in Narayanganj, Feni, Cumilla, Bogura, Chattogram, and Cox’s Bazar, capable of processing 380 tonnes of PET bottles monthly. These facilities create a closed-loop system, reintegrating plastic into production as valuable raw material rather than waste.
Both BRAC and BPCL were selected as PLEASE grantees for their proven ability to combine innovation, compliance, and community engagement. Each operates under a comprehensive Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), ensuring environmental integrity and worker wellbeing — a model that sets the benchmark for scaling circular solutions nationwide.
At the heart of this transformation are the people who power it. Through PLEASE, we have supported over 5,000 waste workers in Bangladesh— around 40% of them women — to transition from informal, unsafe work into formal, dignified employment. Across the seven RBUs, they now receive digital payments, protective equipment, and access to health camps, childcare, and social protection.
We still remember speaking with Salma Begum, a waste worker in Cox’s Bazar, who told us, “I used to work in unsafe places with no protection. Now I earn regularly, have access to healthcare and childcare, and I’ve joined a savings group. For the first time, I feel respected.” For many like Salma, this marks the first time their work has been formally recognized and rewarded.
We have seen women waste workers play an increasingly vital role in these sectors — proving that circularity can also drive gender equality and inclusive economic growth. This is not only about recycling materials; it is about enhancing livelihoods and ensuring that sustainability leaves no one behind.
The PLEASE project proves that environmental sustainability and financial viability can be powerful allies. At Cox’s Bazar recycling facility, revenues from recycled products are being reinvested to sustain operations, expand capacity, and strengthen women-led entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, BPCL has improved machinery efficiency and streamlined operations, transforming recycling from a donor-supported initiative into a self-sustaining social enterprise. Together, these efforts reaffirm our belief that circular systems can generate both economic and environmental returns — turning waste management from a burden into an opportunity.
In Cox’s Bazar, flexible and low value single-use plastics— once environmental hazards — are now repurposed into durable, climate-resilient materials for sanitation and community facilities. In a concrete demonstration of this circular model in action, BRAC has already supplied 500 kg of this recycled plastic lumber to their own climate change programme, where it is being used to build small-scale resilient infrastructure. BPCL’s RBUs process PET bottles into flakes and resins, supplying Bangladesh’s textile and packaging industries and reducing dependency on imported raw materials.
This innovation was a revelation. Standing in Cox’s Bazar and seeing a bench made from what was once a plastic bag, it became clear that even the hardest-to-recycle materials can become valuable resources — reinforcing the essence of a circular economy.
BPCL’s digital tracking system is another hallmark of the PLEASE model. It enables traceability for every kilogram of PET collected and recycled, ensuring transparency and accountability across the value chain. So far, BPCL’s RBUs have recovered over 500 tonnes of PET — diverting more than 17.5 million bottles from waterways and informal dumps. We notice that digital transactions have eliminated cash inefficiencies, empowered small entrepreneurs, and strengthened trust among collectors, recyclers, and buyers.
We’ve seen that circularity only truly takes root when communities lead the process and take ownership. Across Cox’s Bazar, we’ve worked alongside community groups, fishermen, women entrepreneurs, hotels and local waste management committees for segregation, collection, and awareness drives. Ten women entrepreneurs have received business and technical training to manage low-value plastic collection networks supplying BRAC’s facility. Youth, students, and boat associations are also leading clean-up campaigns across Dhaka, Chattogram, Mongla, and Cox’s Bazar. We have learned that when communities see value in what they once discarded, a culture of circular responsibility takes root.
This community engagement is the heart of our model—where we don’t just work for communities, but with them, recognizing that they are the true drivers of this change.
The PLEASE project underscores that there is no single path to circularity — but partnership is essential. In Cox’s Bazar, BRAC’s model represents a public–nonprofit partnership: the municipality provided land, while BRAC designed, built, and operated the facility. BPCL, on the other hand, represents a corporate–social partnership, blending private investment with inclusion through partnerships with TRACT and Centre for Development, Innovation and Practice (CDIP). Together, these models show how diverse partnerships can achieve shared goals. For us, the key lesson has been this: the most powerful infrastructure we can build is not just physical, but partnership. This is the crucial foundation that links infrastructure, innovation, and inclusion to protect both people and the planet.
After 18 months on the ground with the PLEASE project, we have seen the proof with our own eyes. Bangladesh now has a proven model ready for replication. Expanding BRAC’s flexible plastic recycling and BPCL’s PET collection and traceability systems can help municipalities and city corporations divert massive waste volumes from landfills and waterways while creating thousands of green jobs. Crucially, by keeping plastics out of dumps and recycling them, this model significantly reduces the emissions and environmental leakage associated with plastic waste, thereby accelerating climate action.
For municipalities, this model offers both environmental and economic benefits. By formalizing collection, introducing user fees, and selling recycled materials, cities can offset operational costs and reinvest in urban services. Nationwide adoption could transform waste management from a fiscal burden into an engine of dignity and opportunity — advancing climate action, environmental protection, and social equity.
The results are clear — what began as a pilot is now a blueprint for circular cities across Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has faced floods, cyclones, and pandemics with resilience and creativity. Today, after one and a half years of implementing the PLEASE project, we believe the waste crisis offers another opportunity to lead — by reimagining our cities as engines of circular innovation.
Communities like ours are not just witnesses to this challenge but essential partners in the solution. By adopting responsible consumption, separating waste at source, and supporting local recycling efforts, communities, working hand-in-hand with their local municipalities, can drive real change from the ground up.
In the end, this is not just about managing waste — it is about redefining value. It is about seeing potential where others see pollution, and hope where others see heaps of garbage. This is our moment for our cities to lead the way, building a circular economy that uplifts every community. Having witnessed this transformation from the ground up, we are now convinced of a simple truth: if our cities embrace circularity, we will achieve a clean, green urban environment, create widespread green jobs, drastically reduce water pollution and carbon emissions, and ensure dignified workplaces for women.