The mission of the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BPGMEA) is likely centered around promoting the interests of plastic goods manufacturers and exporters in Bangladesh. This could involve advocating for policies that support the industry’s growth, providing resources and support to its members, and fostering collaboration and networking opportunities within the sector.
The Plastic sector of Bangladesh has taken the approach of building ‘New Plastics Economy by 2030’. Conceptually it revolutionizes the existing approach of developing the plastic sector of the country-from a mere manufacturing industry towards a socially responsive, environmentally sensitive and sustainable industry. Hence the sector is taking an ambitious target to rebuild the industry to provide a globally recognized brand image of another manufacturing industry in Bangladesh.
After successful accomplishment in achieving most of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Bangladesh has been heading towards attaining much ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The role of the private sector in achieving different targets of SDGs has been a new dimension in addressing the development and social challenges across the world. Bangladesh’s private sector has been playing a proactive role since the inception of the process of adopting the SDGs. National apex bodies of the private sector as well as respective business associations have undertaken initiatives to translate the long term targets of the SDGs to their short, medium and long term action plans. The plastic sector, which is a major domestic market-oriented as well as an emerging export-oriented sector of Bangladesh, because of its significant contribution in terms of widening domestic manufacturing base, generating industrial employment, accelerating private investment and inflowing more foreign exchanges, take the initiative to translate the global goals and targets in terms of their targets and map the actions to be taken to achieve those broad development goals. Different countries in the world have actually succeeded in establishing a dynamic plastics sector, and have established complete guidelines for reaching their goals of zero waste society. There is also a drive towards promoting the use of bio-degradable plastics, which can prove instrumental in reducing plastics waste.
The vision of BPGMEA could be to establish Bangladesh as a leading hub for plastic goods manufacturing and exporting, emphasizing sustainability, innovation, and global competitiveness. This vision might include goals such as increasing the industry’s contribution to the country’s economy, promoting environmentally friendly practices, and enhancing the international reputation of Bangladeshi plastic goods.
In this context, this paper provides a broader perspective of how the plastic sector will restrategise its long term ambition of developing a ‘new plastic economy’ in Bangladesh by 2030. In other words, this paper provides a brief overview of the plastics sector of Bangladesh, how the total economy and the plastics sector will contribute towards the economy in 2030, a projection of the necessary requirements of the plastics sector in the year 2030, challenges for establishing a dynamic and growing plastics sector in Bangladesh and a brief outline of the roadmap towards establishing a growing and dynamic plastics sector by the year 2030.