Hundreds of women join hands to promote plastic collection

More than 100 women have joined hands together to create awareness on plastic cleanup at Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) as part of the International Women’s Day 2022 campaign to improve the health of the planet.

The one-day campaign was designed to raise community-level awareness on plastic collection and women’s empowerment through various activities, such as plastic cleanup drives in the city, awareness sessions, household visits, plastic collection site visits, and paying tribute to the women to waste workers by the diverse groups of women. Unilever Bangladesh in collaboration with NCC, UNDP Bangladesh, Eco Social Development Organisation (ESDO) arranged the programme with the support of Glow & Lovely Career on Wednesday last, Unilever said in a statement.

More than 100 women started the day with an early morning city cleanup, and the group represented Unilever’s female managers, UNDP’s female and male staff, community leaders, and female water workers of NCC. The women were divided into 10 groups and spread throughout the main part of the city. This cleanup was a symbolic representation of women’s contribution to tackling plastic pollution at NCC.

After an hour of cleanup drive, the diverse groups of women gathered at the Ali Ahmed Chunka Auditorium for a discussion and paying tribute to the waste workers for NCC, where Dr Selina Hayat Ivy, Mayor of NCC has graced the programme as the chief guest along with Shamima Akhter, Head of Corporate Affairs, Partnerships and Communications of UBL, Sakshi Handa, Human Resource Director of UBL and Yugesh Pradhanang, Project Manager, Livelihoods Improvement of Urban Poor Communities Project (LIUPCP) of UNDP Bangladesh.

Dr Selina Hayat Ivy said, “All of us are powerful women and, we need to be courageous enough, confident, and visionary to reach our full potential and face any challenge. I appreciate that hundred powerful women come forward with such an encouraging initiative of plastic cleanup at NCC. The plastic collection project of Unilever and UNDP is a unique one, and I believe it will give us a sustainable plastic collection model for NCC, which will not only set the example but also inspire other city authorities to adopt the same model for a better plastic waste management system.”

Shamima Akhter, Head of Corporate Affairs, Partnerships and Communications of Unilever said, “To improve the health of the planet, one of our commitments is, by 2025, we will collect more plastic than we sell. To reach the goal of plastic collection, Unilever has taken this unique collection project with a specific focus on flexible plastic, which is a significant problem for NCC and other cities. We want to build a dynamic value chain and circularity at NCC to tackle the plastic challenges. We have identified IWD to utilise the power of women in creating awareness on plastic collection as we believe in the power of diversity for making the world a better place.”

“At Unilever, we believe brands with purpose grow, and most of our brands are working towards social issues under our compass commitment. Glow and Lovely is one of our popular brands promoting our campaign on plastic awareness, and through brands power, this message can encourage our women to address the challenge on plastic pollution,” Shamima added.