Recycling of Plastic Waste: Sustainable Product Strategy for Bangladesh

Abstract

This study on “Recycling Plastic Wastes: Sustainable Product Strategy for Bangladesh” proposes an approach to explore the feasibility of a sustainable plastic waste recycling industry in Bangladesh. A feasible plastics recycling industry mostly envisages two predominant targets: 1) Economic gain and 2) Environment sustainability.

In terms of economic gain, the noteworthy impact of the plastic recycling industry could definitely improve Bangladesh’s balance of trade by reducing dependence on virgin plastic raw material imports as well as producing value-added products which will increase the economic competitiveness of plastic manufacturers & marketers, increase export potential, and create new jobs, enhance working environments, particularly for actors of the informal sector. In the context of environmental sustainability, the environmental benefits of using recycled plastics can be immense since it diverts plastic waste away from landfills and has a nominal carbon footprint compared to the plastic recycling industry's significant impact could be positive to lighten prevailing plastic pollution, which can eventually provide a more sustainable alternative to virgin plastic raw materials for producing raw materials for the production of materials and is resource-efficient in production.

This study is consequential in the contemporary world swamped with plastic waste. The study offers a comprehensive evaluation of the current state of plastic waste recycling in Bangladesh as well as benchmarking the factors explicit to the recycling companies in Bangladesh and other successful recycling companies in the world with recommendations for establishing an economically viable and environmentally sustainable plastic waste recycling sector in Bangladesh. This is exploratory research. The study includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from reliable sources, and projections of current plastic market trends and future possibilities compiled through extensive primary, secondary, and tertiary research where the primary research is done through open field interviews, in-depth expert interviews, observations, and case studies. The open field interviews are based on the value chain actors of plastic waste recycling in Bangladesh and the sample groups are heterogeneous, based on purposive (waste collectors, middle dealers) and convenience (wholesale dealers, recyclers) sampling. The respondents include waste collectors, middle dealers, wholesale dealers and recyclers. The study has adopted the case study method of purposeful case selection and has selected large and notable plastic recycling business models across the world to find the critical success factors and the possible replication option from Bangladesh’s perspective. The analysis is structured using the Business Model Canvas (BMC) framework as developed by Alexander Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) and the Lowell Center Framework for Sustainable Products (Sally Edward, 2010) by following the Circular Economy Business Model Case Studies developed by the R2Pi project of the European Union in 2017. The study has reviewed and analyzed 250 previous studies of similar fields done by different researchers across the globe by focusing on literature sources, insights, and key drivers of the kinds of literature. Interviews with industry experts and the organization’s personnel have provided primary information that facilitated the analysis of the business model of the Circular Economy. The analysis is mainly exploratory which is based on open field interviews, case studies, expert interviews, and literature reviews. The research addresses the general concept of plastic and plastic waste recycling, prevailing value chain investigation, exploration of global practices, and assessing the prospect and opportunities for replication of the business model in Bangladesh on a circular economy notion. The broad research objective is to explore the feasibility of a sustainable plastic waste recycling industry in Bangladesh. The operational objectives of the study are: 1) To evaluate the current state of the plastic waste recycling value chain; 2) To study the existing plastic waste recycling industry for replication and scalability of the business model on the circular economy principles; 3) To formulate a sustainable product strategy from recycled plastic waste in Bangladesh.

A conceptual framework has been developed coping with a “system-thinking approach” (OECD, 2017) focusing on the plastic recycling value chain that involves a multitude of actors from the collection, transport, dismantling, sorting, and finally to recycling & product manufacturing from a circular economy perspective. Open field interviews and expert interviews revealed that the plastic recycling industry in Bangladesh is highly polluting in its current state due to the informal sector’s dominance, inferior feedstock quality, lack of funding, substandard recycling technology, waste treatment infrastructure, and thus throwing away the opportunities to extract ultimate benefits. On the contrary, developed countries are far ahead of Bangladesh because of the vibrant informal sector, strong recycling infrastructure, superior quality feedstock, and advanced technology with adequate funding as revealed from case studies and literature reviews. Finally, this study recommends the main priorities to be addressed to develop a feasible plastics recycling industry in Bangladesh; 1) Recyclable plastic waste escalation in terms of value and volume; 2) Integrate informal sector actors into the mainstream economy to improve the effectiveness of collection, sorting, and segregation and legitimize their identity and profession; 3) Form and Institutionalize the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) structure towards funding for the growth and development of recycling infrastructure; 4) Inspire innovation, and match recyclers with prospective business opportunities by establishing a transparent and viable secondary raw material marketplace. However, a joint and coordinated approach is required among all where policymakers, researchers, students, industry experts, social activists, international donors, and businesses interested and engaged in the transition toward a circular plastics economy are the intended audiences.