British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Robert Chatterton Dickson paid a visit to Unilever’s Plastic Waste Management Project (PWMP) site at Narayanganj City Corporation recently.
The Mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation, Dr. Salina Hayat Ivy attended as Chief Guest in this occasion.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Van, Deputy Resident Representative, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Sarder M. Asaduzzaman, Assistant Resident Representative, Head of Programme Management and Partnership Support Unit (PMPSU), UNDP Bangladesh, Zaved Akhtar, CEO abd Managing Director, Unilever Bangladesh Limited, Shahidul Islam, Chief Executive Officer, Narayanganj City Corporation, and other key officials from both organisations were present.
The dignitaries visited the Plastic Collection station supported by the project, observed the daily plastic collection process, visited households to see plastic segregation practices, engaged with community leaders, waste pickers, and street cleaners and finally visited the plastic value addition centre run by the project.
On his visit, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Robert Chatterton Dickson, said, “It has been wonderful to see Unilever, Narayanganj City Corporation, UNDP and the British High Commission working together in the Plastic Waste Management project. We must continue to collaborate to create opportunities for plastic management in the city.”
Zaved Akhtar, CEO & Managing Director, Unilever Bangladesh, said, “At Unilever, we are committed to improving the health of the planet, and as a part of our Compass Commitment of keeping plastic in the loop, we have a target to collect more plastic than we sell by 2025.”
Sudipto Mukerjee, Resident Representative, UNDP, said, “Across the globe, plastic pollution has reached alarming levels, and be it on land or in the waterways, the situation in Bangladesh is rather dire. Only an effective and sustained campaign to drive behavioral change together with a business model that can keep plastic recycled and circulating in the economy rather than add to environmental pollution will help to address the looming crisis.”