DHAKA, Mar 2, 2023 (BSS) - The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change today held a meeting with the World Bank (WB) to find the ways to implement the Sustainable Plastic Management Action Plan aiming to prevent plastic pollution in the country. 
 
Chaired by Environment Secretary Dr Farhina Ahmed, the meeting was attended, among others, by Additional Secretary (Climate Change) Md Moniruzzaman, Additional Secretary (Environment) Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, Additional Secretary (Environmental Pollution Control) Md Mizanur Rahman, World Bank's senior environmental expert Yoon Ju Alison Yee and Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) Executive Director Syeda Rizwana Hasan.

In the meeting, on behalf of the World Bank, proposals were presented on policies and financing mechanism for the implementation of the Sustainable Plastic Management Action Plan. 
 
The meeting was also informed that the World Bank is preparing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as part of the implementation of the action plan.  Syeda Rizwana Hasan spoke on the draft guidelines of EPR on plastics.

Simultaneously, a discussion was held with Lafarge Holcim regarding the implementation of Geo-cycle, a modern waste management system.

Kaushik Mukherjee, Head of LafargeHolcim's Geo-cycle Division, presented the Geo-cycle waste management approach to control the pollution.  

He said LafargeHolcim is implementing the method of burning garbage without any residue in a furnace with a temperature of 80 to 2000 degree Celsius. 

The geocycle process burns 100 percent of the waste, and because it uses garbage instead of fossil fuels, the process does not produce greenhouse gases, he added.

In her speech, Environment Secretary Farhina Ahmed praised the geocycle system, saying that the government will implement this waste management system if it is found to be environment-friendly and effectively implementable after on-site inspection.
 
She said the necessary guidelines for the implementation of the plastic management action plan will be formulated in consultation with all concerned.