Environment Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury has said that the government is working to convert the country's waste into resources.
“A project to produce fertilizer from waste is being taken up,” the minister said while talking to reporters after a meeting with a delegation of the United States Agency for International Development and Dhaka CALLING at the Secretariat on Thursday.
He said by 2025, various sectors in the country would produce around 50,000 tons of waste daily.
Government and private entities would produce fertilizer by collecting these, the minister added.
“Why should we import quality fertilizer? Fertilizer import will decrease if the production of fertilizer from waste starts, which will result in significant savings in foreign exchange..”
Saber said the formulation of a national waste management framework had received top priority in his ministry’s 100-day program.
The minister said there would be initiatives for recycling single-use plastic.
Expressing concern about waste management at the Savar tannery estate, the environment minister said chromium found in the waste of that place posed a serious risk to human health.
He added that the environment ministry wanted to address the issue through discussions with the industries ministry.
The minister later discussed a ban on plastic filters in cigarettes with a delegation of the NGO PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress in his office.
