7.5pc growth in plastic waste export in FY\\\'15

Export earnings from plastic waste experienced a positive growth in fiscal year (FY), 2014-15, after years of declining trend, officials said.
Plastic waste export showed a promising 7.5 per cent growth in the last fiscal year (FY'15) over that of FY'14.
Businesses and policymakers concerned are seeing this as a hope in a gloomy export scenario when shipment of items of more than 45 major categories fell in the first month of the current fiscal year (July, FY'16).
The country exported plastic waste worth US$ 32.35 million in FY'15 which is 31 per cent higher than the fixed target.
Businesses were able to bring only $30.11 million in FY'14 which was $39 million in FY'13 -- nearly a 23 per cent decline.  
The export was worth $ 43.5 million in the FY'12, according to the data available from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) former president A S M Kamal Uddin said plastic waste comprises more than 30 per cent out of the overall earning from plastic goods shipment worth $100 million annually.
He said plastic jar, bottle, cork and other polyethylene-plastic wastages are the major items that local traders export mainly to China and a notable portion to India, and elsewhere in the globe.
He said plastic waste export had been witnessing a decline mainly due to setting up of recycling plants by local businesses.
"It is more economical than exporting," he said.
But, BPGMEA president and vice-chairman of Bengal Group of Industries Md Jashim Uddin pointed out that the massive devaluation of Chinese currency against the US dollar might hurt the export of plastic goods this fiscal year.
"But we are optimistic about being more competitive in the changing market scenario," he said.
According to BPGMEA, the plastic industry's turnover including local sale and export is now worth Tk 110 billion and the sector has created employment for about a million people.
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