Bidyanondo Foundation has launched a project called “Rickshaw Bin” where rickshaw pullers will be paid for depositing plastic waste.

Initially, 200 rickshaw pullers will be brought under the project, according to a Facebook post on the foundation’s page on Wednesday.

“He is depositing the plastic waste from the rickshaw bin in a bhangari (scrap materials) store and getting money in return. Maybe a little but for the poor in this market, Tk 1 is equal to a lakh taka,” said the organization posting some photos on its page.

“It is the inborn nature of people to find mistakes in every work. The ‘Rickshaw Bin’ project is no exception. How will a good thought come if you think that it will be used for bad work?” the post reads.

“For now, we are bringing 200 rickshaws under this project. We need cooperation from all to do the rest,” it added.

Earlier, Bidyanondo Foundation opened a “Plastic Exchange Store” to clean up St Martin’s Island and to rid it of the plastic waste menace.

Through the store, Bidyanondo is offering rice, pulses and other essential items in exchange of plastic waste on St Martin’s Island.

Plastic is choking Bangladesh’s drains, canals, and rivers. Around 1,700 tonnes of plastic waste is produced in the country every day and only half of it is recycled, according to the Department of Environment.

In Dhaka city alone, plastic waste has gone up more than 3.5 times from 178 tonnes per day in 2005 to 646 tonnes per day in 2020. Of that 646 tonnes, only 37 per cent is recycled, and mostly by the informal sector, according to the World Bank.