Dhaka South City Corporation is turning recyclable waste into a form of currency, allowing residents to exchange discarded plastic and other materials for rice, lentils, cooking oil and other essentials in an initiative it plans to expand across all its wards within months.
The “Market in Exchange for Waste” program was launched in Hazaribagh’s Ward 55 on Monday, introducing an incentive-based approach that seeks to tackle two persistent urban problems at once, mounting waste and the economic pressure facing low-income communities.
Rather than treating residents merely as beneficiaries, the program seeks to make them participants in waste collection by attaching an immediate economic value to materials that would otherwise end up on streets, in drains or in landfills.
Following the inauguration, residents brought collected waste to temporary stalls and exchanged it for rice, lentils, cooking oil, salt, potatoes, tissue and other household essentials.
Dhaka South City Corporation Administrator Md Abdus Salam inaugurated the initiative at a field adjacent to a slum in Hazaribagh. The program is being implemented jointly with Bidyanondo Foundation.
The Hazaribagh launch is intended to be only the beginning. Salam said a permanent waste-exchange stall would be established in Gulistan within a week, while DSCC plans to establish one in each of its wards within the next three to four months.
“Active participation of citizens is crucial to building a clean city. ‘Market in Exchange for Waste’ is an effective model for encouraging such participation,” he said.
Waste for food
Under the model, recyclable waste collected by residents acquires an exchange value that can be redeemed for essential commodities.
The approach is particularly aimed at encouraging people in marginalized communities to collect and properly dispose of recyclable materials instead of allowing them to accumulate in neighbourhoods or enter the city’s drainage system.
Salam said plastic and other solid waste dumped into drains and sewers obstruct water flow, contributing to the chronic waterlogging that affects Dhaka during heavy rainfall.
Disposing of waste at designated locations, he said, could therefore help address both environmental pollution and waterlogging.
Bidyanondo Foundation Executive Director Jamal Uddin said the objective was to go beyond conventional assistance.
“We are not just helping marginalized people; we are making them partners in keeping the city clean,” he said.
The foundation’s previous experience suggests discarded plastic can have significant economic value when collected systematically.
According to Uddin, Bidyanondo generated around Tk1 crore from selling plastic waste over the past two years and used the proceeds to help provide meals to nearly 400,000 people.
100,000kg target
The new initiative now seeks to scale up that model.
Organizers have set a target of collecting around 100,000kg of waste through 100 mobile campaigns over the next year.
The proposed permanent stalls could take the program further by creating regular collection points rather than relying solely on individual campaigns.
DSCC also plans to introduce another exchange-based initiative, “Food in Exchange for Books”, at suitable secondary transfer stations.
Under that program, spaces equipped with chairs, tables and books would be created for street children, combining food assistance with opportunities to read.
DSCC Chief Waste Management Officer Air Commodore Md Mahbubur Rahman Talukder, other senior city corporation officials and Bidyanondo Foundation volunteers attended Monday’s launch.
