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International Journal of
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Waste Resources
ISSN: 2252-5211

Research Article

Plastic Waste Recycling Practice in Natore District, Bangladesh

Rahman MM*, Shafkath ES, Rahman MA
Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh Army University of Engineering & Technology (BAUET), Qadirabad Cantonment, Natore,
Bangladesh

ABSTRACT
This study is aimed to find out the plastic waste recycling practice in Natore District as it has become the biggest
concern for the environment. A questionnaire-based survey at 11 shops was conducted in 4 upazila of Natore
district. The study found that the there are three types of plastic waste is being recycled or processed in Natore area
which are pet bottles (PB), hard plastic processed (HP 1) and hard plastic non-processed (HP2). The collection shops
size is around 3777 ± 2160 sq/ft in whereas the processing shops size is 13513 ± 7686 sq/ft. On average 6 people
work in each type of shops, aged from 20 to 35 years and women are less involved in this sector. Worker mostly
earned 270 BDT on average pay day. Collection shops collect 1400 ± 70.72 kg (1.54 ton) and processing shops collect
970 ± 29.86 kg (1.069 ton) plastic waste every week that contributes 0.14 % of the total plastic waste recycled in
Bangladesh. Price of the products is a bit unstable. However, in general PB, HP1 and HP2 are bought 10-12 20-30
and 5-7 BDT/kg respectively and sold to industry on 17-18, 45-50, 10 BDT/kg respectively, for final recycle.
Keywords: Plastic waste; Recycling; Natore area

INTRODUCTION it is recycled [3]. It should also be known that Bangladesh produces

3,000 tons of plastic waste every day and 800,000 tons every year
Background [4]. There are different types of plastic products that are used in
this country on everyday basis that eventually turns into waste, they
Plastic is now the most usable material in the world. Most of the are pet bottle, soft plastic and hard plastic [5]. For the negligence
products we use are made of plastic. But it has become the biggest of the local authority it is not properly recycled. If the maximum
concern for the environment. It does not decompose in over 450- amount of plastic waste is recycled, the environment as well as the
1000 years [1]. Study shows that the world has produced 8.3 billion socio-economic condition will improve. A developing country like
metric tons of plastic products and 6.3 billion metric tons of them Bangladesh, recycling plastic is a great sector for unemployment as
has turned into waste and 91% of them are not recycled [2]. Plastic well as for the prevention of environmental pollution. That’s why
is responsible for soil & water pollution. For this, it is the biggest the recycling & reuse of plastic is important.
threat to the environment. Plastic is mainly organic polymer &
some time contains other materials. Plastic waste is now one of Study aim
the biggest parts in solid waste management system. If plastic does
not recycle, the environment will be polluted.Recycling is the best However, no data regarding plastic waste recycling in Natore area
process of converting plastic waste into valuable goods. Plastic was found. If a plastic waste recycling data was created and studied,
recycling is the process of collecting plastic & turned it into new it will be helpful in the future if there is to be any plans for waste
products. management in Natore area. For these reasons the study is aimed
to find out the plastic waste recycling practice in Natore District.
Recycling of plastic waste in Bangladesh
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In Bangladesh, the practice of recycling plastic is not so good.
Bangladesh generates about 1700 tons of plastic wastes everyday Study area
according to Department of Environment (DOE) and only half of
Naotre is a district in Rajshahi division of Bangladesh with an

*Corresponding to: Rahman MM, Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh Army University of Engineering & Technology (BAUET),
Qadirabad Cantonment, Natore, Bangladesh, Tel: 8801757189515; E-mail: drmahmudru.rits@gmail.com
Received: November 25, 2020; Accepted: December 14, 2020; Published: December 20, 2020
Citation: Rahman MM, Shafkath ES, Rahman MA (2020) Plastic Waste Recycling Practice in Natore District, Bangladesh. Int J Waste
Resour 10: 392. doi: 10.35248/2252-5211.20.10.392
Copyright: 2020 © Rahman MM, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Int J Waste Resour, Vol. 10 Iss. 6 No: 392 1

Rahman MM, et al. OPEN ACCESS Freely available online

area of 1896.05 square kilometer [6]. The district is 40.057 km Microsoft excel 2019.
east of Rajshahi and 168.04 km North West of Dhaka. Natore is
located between 24°21'0.00" N 89°04'59.88" E. [7]. The district RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
is divided into seven upazilas, i.e. NatorSadar, Gurudashpur,
Baraigram, Gopalpur, Lalpur, Bagatipara & Naldanga (Figure 1). Plastic recycling process at processing shop
The population of Natore is around 1.826 million [6].
Plastic waste is basically collected from households by local
Sample selection scavengers and sold it to local collection shops known as vangri.
Collection shop owners sell them to processing shops. In the
For this study 11 shops were selected among four upazilas processing shop they store the plastic wastes (Figure 2a). They
(NatorSadar, Baraigram, Lalpur and Bagatipara) as shown in Table categorize them into 3 types i.e. a). Pet bottle (PB), b) hard plastic
1. Among 11 shops, 4 of them were processing shop (P) and 7 of (processed) (HP1) and c) hard plastic (Unprocessed) (HP2) locally
them were collection shop (C), locally known as vangri. known as molam. PB’s are mostly soft drinks or water bottle and
hard plastics are two types that are found, one is HP1 these are
Questionnaire survey recycled in the district and turned into raw material for future
A questionnaire survey based on 11 questions was conducted in 4 processing such as, chairs, pen, toilet cleaner container, mobile
upazila. The selected 4 upazilas are, referred as Natoreshadar (N), container etc. Whereas there is another kind of plastic HP2
Bagatipara (BA), Baraigram (BO) & Lalpur (L). The survey was which are non-recycled, this type of plastic is hard and cannot be
done by conducting direct interview of shop owners (Collection processed in Natore area processing shops, such as water filter,
shop & processing shop) across the district between November motorbike girder, refrigerator wastage etc. The plastics are then put
2019 and January 2020. The survey included questions about in shredding machine to get the plastic in desired shape and size
size and type of shops, number of workers, salary of the workers, as shown in Figure 2b. After shredding (Figure 2c) they wash the
amount of waste collection, the process of collecting plastic waste, plastic with detergent in order to clean the recycled material. After
buying and selling price of the plastic waste and destination of the drying the shredded plastic (Figure 2d) the plastic is packed for
recycled plastic. transportation (Figure 2e). According to shop owners most of the
recycled plastic is transported to Islambagh Dhaka where plastic is
Data analysis turned into mold.

After getting the survey information’s the data was processed by Size of the shop
Table 1: Sample distribution among four Upazilas of Natore District. There are two types of shops in the district, Collection shop and
processing shop. In Figure 3, it was found that average size of
Name of Upazilas No of Shop
collection shops in Natore district is 3777 ± 2160 sq/ft whereas
NatorSadar 3
processing shop size was 13513 ± 7686 sq/ft on average. Usually,
Baraigram 4 the collection shop is used as temporary storage until the selling
Lalpur 2 of the plastic waste to processing shop of small amount of waste
Bagatipara 2

(a) Plastic storage after collection (b) Shredding of plastic with machine

(c) Washing after shredding (d) Shredded plastic

(e) Packaging of shredded plastic for transportation

Figure 1: Map of Natore Area [8]. Figure 2: Plastic waste recycling at processing shop.

Int J Waste Resour, Vol. 10 Iss. 6 No: 392 2

Rahman MM, et al. OPEN ACCESS Freely available online

workers associated in waste management sector earns about 161

BDT per day [9] with a working day of 8 to 10 hours 7 days a week
[9]. Whereas, in Natore area, workers are allowed to work 6 days a
week. The possible reason of high earning in Natore area is lack of
skilled person in this sector compared to Dhaka City.

Amount of waste
(a) Collection shop (b) Processing shop

Figure 3: Size of the shop. According to the owners and workers, collection shops in Natore
district collect about 1400 ± 70.72 kg (1.54 ton) worth waste each
that is why collection shops are smaller in size. On the other hand, week. Meanwhile processing shops acquire and process around
processing shops are used as storage, post shredding and after 970 ± 29.86 kg (1.069 ton) worth waste each week, shown in Figure
shredding, wash, and packaging purposes. That’s why processing 6. In the end of the year collection shops and processing shops
shops are bigger in size. Meanwhile in Dhaka city small shops are collect and process around 67000 kg (73.85 ton) and 47760 kg
around 200 to 2000 sq/ft in size [9] which is smaller than Natore (52.64 ton) of plastic waste and transport them to Dhaka for final
area. The reason of larger size of collection shop at Natore area may recycling. It was also found that, there are 42 collection shops and
be the low land price compare to Dhaka city. 11 processing shops those are capable of collecting and processing
about 443 tons and 145 tons of plastic waste respectfully in a year.
Number of the workers This indicates the Natore area contributes 0.14 % of the total plastic
waste recycled in Bangladesh as per Hossain & Shams report [3].
It was found that in Natore area male number of workers were
dominant than female number of workers. On average 6 male Price of the plastic waste
workers were found in all kind of shops whereas female workers
were found in only two shops. Most of the workers both male and There are 3 different type of plastic wastes that are collected and
female aged around 20-35 years. No child workers were found in processed. In Figure 7 it is seen that, in collections shops the
these shops; however, children do work as scavenger in local areas. buying prices of PB are 10-12, HP1 20-30 and HP2 are 5-7 BDT/kg
It is shown in Figure 4. Meanwhile in Dhaka city 41% female and respectively. And sells them for PB 12-16, HP1 30-50 and HP2 7-10
31 % child workers are associated in the whole process [9]. BDT/kg respectively. Meanwhile in processing shops they buy PB
for 12, HP1 for 20-30 and HP2 for 7 BDT/kg respectively and after
Salary of the worker processing they sell them for, PB 17-18, HP1 40-50 and HP2 10
BDT/kg respectively. However, the price varies a lot depending on
In the questionnaire survey one of the objectives were, how much weather and market. Also, there is no exact rate of such products
money the workers earn on everyday basis. Shown in Figure 5, and no fixed buyer or seller. It is not always necessary for processing
processing shop and collections shops were paying their workers
almost same amount of money. On average the workers depending
on their skills earns 270 BDT each day, male female indiscriminate.
Their working hour is 8 AM to 6 PM. Meanwhile in Dhaka city

(a) Amount of waste per week (Collection shop) (b) Amount of waste per week (Processing shop)

Figure 6: Amount of waste.

Figure 4: Male workers.

(a) Buying price (Collection shop) (b) Selling price (Collection Shop)

(c) Buying price (Processing Shop) (d) Selling price (Processing Shop)

Figure 5: Salary of worker. Figure 7: Buying & Selling Price BDT/kg.

Int J Waste Resour, Vol. 10 Iss. 6 No: 392 3

Rahman MM, et al. OPEN ACCESS Freely available online

shops to buy plastic waste from local collection shops; they also buy From the information above it can be concluded that, the plastic
them from local scavengers. waste recycling practice in Naotre district is not being governed
properly. About 400+ tons of plastic waste is being recycled by
CONCLUSION these shops. This industry is not being properly monitored by the
authority. This industry is keeping the environment a little safer
In this study the condition of plastic waste recycling process in from the long-lasting damage of plastic waste. People working in
Natore district were discussed. The scenario of the selected areas this sector are not getting paid enough.
(NatoreSadar, Boraigram, Bagatipara&Lalpur) were presented by
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