Plastic Waste Recycling Practice in Natore District, 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.