Providing healthy futures for the waste pickers of Dhaka with Grambangla Unnayan Committee
GRI 102-12
Together with local partner Grambangla and Childhope UK, LC Packaging has developed a skill development training programme for the waste pickers in the Mutuail Dumping Site in Dhaka, Bangladesh so that they can find employment in decent sectors. LC Packaging supports this project through the LC Supports Foundation.
Waste-picking in Bangladesh is the occupation of the poorest of the poor. In the Mutuail Dumping Site in Dhaka City, over 2,500 waste pickers, mainly women and children, go through 3,000 mt of waste each day. Many of the women are divorced, separated, or the wives of drug addicts or disabled men. They are exposed to unhygienic conditions, toxic fumes and injury from sharp objects and machinery. Their lack of skills, discrimination and dire poverty means waste picking is their only means of survival.
Additionally, the nearest primary school is 4km away and even when they are able to afford the education, mothers cannot take their children there, because they have to work. However, they do also not want to let their children walk there alone as there are very busy roads and the risk of trafficking. This means the children are unable to develop necessary skills and are looking at a future on the dumping site as well.
Sewing trade trainees
With the donations of the LC Supports Foundation, waste pickers between the ages of 17 and 24 get a chance to become sewing trade trainees for at least six months. After their training, they are offered a job at our SA 8000 FIBC production facility Dutch-Bangla Pack Ltd. Here, they are employed, receive a fair wage and health care and enjoy normal working hours in a safe and clean environment.
Since 2018, 110 trainees have participated or are currently participating in the skills training. So far, 72 trainees have graduated and all of them have found a new job, either at our FIBC production facility or in local garment factories. Read more about the latest updates on the waste pickers of the website of the LC Supports Foundation.
At LC Packaging, we value our long-term partnerships with production partners, NGO’s and others. We believe there is always room for innovation and development when it comes to sourcing, designing, manufacturing and establishing after-use solutions for our products and collaborate with partners who can help us do so. In our LC Partner Stories we share projects and initiatives we are working on with our trusted partners.