Plastic biggest hurdle to Tokyo-style cleaning of Dhaka: DoE chief

Plastic waste is a major challenge to making Dhaka as clean as Tokyo, Department of Environment (DoE) Director General Md Lutfor Rahman said on Thursday.
“Prime Minister Tarique, in his speeches, said he wants to see Dhaka as clean as Tokyo, but I think plastic will be a key challenge to fulfil the dream. Plastic is choking the rivers and canals and finally ending up in the seas,” he said at the closing ceremony of the Norway-funded project “Integrated Approach Towards Sustainable Plastics Use and Marine Litter Prevention in Bangladesh” at a Dhaka hotel. The DoE and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) organised the event.
The DG said the project had made progress, including the framing of extended producer responsibility, but waste segregation, stronger recycling systems and sustained investment in industry skills were now needed. 
He noted that UNIDO support had created a trainer pool and stressed the need to sustain practical models such as the Sirajganj biomedical waste management facility. Project Director Dr Abdullah Al Mamun said more than 60 cleanup campaigns, industrial assessments and collaborations with recyclers had been carried out.
Mohammad Navid Safiullah, additional secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said plastic waste strains drainage systems, rivers and coastal ecosystems, while discarded materials represent a loss of resources for industry.
UNIDO Project Manager Dr Rana Pratap Singh said the Sirajganj facility needed cooperation from health authorities and the municipality.  He added that participating factories had been introduced to Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production with a Design for Environment approach.