Bangladesh turns waste into dollars

August 05, 2008

Poor Bangladeshis are making a living from recycling plastic bottles, turning it into an export industry for South Asian nations. Bangladesh exports over 20,000 tonnes of PET flakes created in the 3,000 factories located across the country worth $10 million last year and the business is growing by 20 percent every year. The flakes are made into fibres and are a base material for clothing, pillows, carpets and polyester sheets.