Islambagh: The neighbourhood behind Bangladesh’s plastic economy

Abdul Barek, owner of SKF products, opens his warehouse at around 9:30am every morning. 

First he sweeps the floor, then fetches drinking water. After that, he calls in the workers and the day's accounting begins — how many sacks of scrap material are on hand, how many sacks of pellets, how many bags of dye, and how much material needs to be produced that day. For 31 years, he has stuck to this same routine.

It is thousands of small factories like Barek's that have given this part of Old Dhaka its distinct identity. 

Starting from Rajnarayan Dutta Road in Lalbagh and spreading through Nandalal Road, Waterworks Road, Haji Babul Road, Posta, Chandnighat, Urdu Road, Kamalbagh, Chalkbazar, and Kamrangirchar — almost every lane of Islambagh is filled with plastic.

Islambagh's rise as a plastic hub

A large share of the roughly 3,000 small plastic factories located in Dhaka is concentrated in Islambagh, Old Dhaka. There is hardly any plastic product that is not made here.

Cough-syrup bottles, shampoo and cooking-oil bottles, buckets, toothpaste tube caps, PET bottles for soft drinks and water, yoghurt cups, chocolate and chip packets, pickle jars, bathroom-cleaner bottles, and even plastic parts used in various industrial machinery — all of it is produced in the small and large factories of this area.

Abdul Barek said, "In Islambagh, you can find almost every type, every size, and every colour of plastic product."

This vast and varied industry didn't emerge overnight. Its journey began decades ago, on a very small scale.

In what was then East Pakistan, small-scale plastic production began in the 1960s. At the time, hand-operated or small manual machines in Old Dhaka mainly turned out plastic toys, photo frames, and a few spare parts.

After independence in 1971, the plastic industry slowly began to expand. But its real growth took place in the 1980s and 1990s. In the '80s, as the country's first semi-automatic and injection-moulding machines arrived, production capacity rose significantly.

Around the same time, the small factories of Chalkbazar gradually relocated and spread out into Islambagh, Lalbagh, and the surrounding areas.

The easy availability of labour has fueled the plastic industry’s growth.

In the 1990s, the rapid expansion of the ready-made garment industry, along with rising demand for plastic goods, turned Islambagh into the country's largest informal cluster for plastic production and recycling.

The foundation of the plastic business in this area was laid by veteran, experienced traders like Haji Younus Ali, who ran his business with a strong reputation for 43 years. Today his sons carry that legacy forward.

Abdul said, "It was traders like Younus Ali who really brought Islambagh's plastic sector to where it stands today. It's on the path they built that a new generation of entrepreneurs is now investing crores of taka in this business."

But the industry doesn't run on factories or modern machinery alone. Its real foundation is a steady supply of raw material, which comes from two sources — virgin plastic pellets and recycled plastic pellets.

Virgin plastic pellets are mostly imported from Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing countries.

On the other hand, an estimated 70% of the plastic raw material currently used in the country comes from recycled plastic pellets. 

According to traders, a portion of the high-quality recycled plastic pellets produced in Bangladesh is even exported to China and India.

Why Islambagh?

Old Dhaka together forms one of the country's largest informal plastic-industry clusters. 600 plastic-recycling establishments identified across Old Dhaka, Islambagh alone accounts for 323 — over half of the total.

The most important is the location of the Buriganga River. Sitting on the river's northern bank once made it easy to bring plastic waste and raw material from different parts of the country by boat, and to ship finished plastic products back out cheaply. Before roads expanded, this waterway was the backbone of the business.

Aulad Hossain, owner of Shapla Plastic, said, "We send goods all over Bangladesh via the Buriganga. Road transport costs much more, but river transport is much cheaper — so the profit is higher too."

It wasn't just the waterway. The nearby Urdu Road and wholesale market like Chalkbazar hosts one of the largest markets for plastic raw material, letting manufacturers source what they need quickly and cheaply. 

The easy availability of labour has also fueled the industry's growth. Because low-wage workers are readily available in Old Dhaka, small entrepreneurs have been able to run factories with relatively modest investment.

Instead of relocating to a designated industrial zone, about 53% of these establishments operate out of residential or mixed residential-commercial buildings. 

Plastic recycling

The best-quality pellets, recyclers say, come from saline bags and tubing used in hospitals. Electric cable also yields good pellets.

Nur Mohammad, a flake trader, said, "We can tell good pellets just by handling them — sometimes we bite them to check, or burn them. A good pellet gives off little vapour but melts down cleanly."

There are several steps between raw scrap and finished pellets. Scrap bottles are first sorted by colour, then separated into categories such as hard, soft, and single-use.

There's even a separate section just for bottle caps. Up to this point, the sorting is done by the scrap dealers themselves. Among Islambagh's pellet traders, some take only hard scrap, some only soft, and some take mixed loads.

Nur explains, "We make the material in many steps. We bring in the pellets, bag them, mix in the colour, and set the machine's temperature just right — otherwise the product melts wrong; and if the mould comes out too big or too small, that has to be fixed too."

The scrap is first brought to the factory and shaken free of dust, then thoroughly washed with powdered soap. It's then cut into small pieces, fed into a barrel, ground down, and melted.

The molten plastic emerges as thick strands and drops into a tank of cold water. From there, the strands are pulled out and fed into a cutting machine, which cuts them into a fixed size or pellet form. 

For flakes, the plastic isn't melted at all — instead it's fed into a bladed barrel and cut, with some cutting still done by hand. The flakes are later disinfected by washing with soda, spirit, and similar agents.

How the plastic economy runs

Islambagh, together with the neighbouring areas of Chalkbazar and Lalbagh, sees crores of taka worth of plastic raw material and finished goods bought and sold every day.

Among all these plastic products, demand is highest for bowls, mesh baskets, buckets, single-use spoons, and children's toys. These products are bought and sold in all 64 districts of the country.

A large share of the raw-material supply and recycling for the country's roughly Tk45,000 crore domestic plastic market is controlled from Islambagh alone.

It isn't just men working in Islambagh's factories — the presence of women and child labourers is also striking. Every stage of the work, from packaging finished goods to running machines to keeping count of how many sacks were produced, runs on relentless labour. 

Emrul, 15, said, "I have to work, because the household can't run otherwise. My mother and I — both of us do the work."

Pellets and flakes are sold by the pound, while raw scrap is sold by the kilogram. A pound of pellets sells for between Tk40 and Tk80.

More than 75% of workers at small local establishments handle scrap without masks, gloves, or safety goggles.

Those who collect plastic bottles or waste from hawkers typically earn a monthly net profit of between Tk30,000 and Tk1 lakh.

Those who cut and melt plastic into pellets or raw material can net between Tk2 to 5 lakh a month after costs — Tk24 to Tk60 lakh a year. 

Abdul Barek further added, "From buying material to selling it, I make about one-and-a-half to two lakh taka in profit a month. After deducting worker wages, electricity bills, and all other costs, the profit comes to Tk60,000-70,000. Annual income is around Tk25-26 lakh."

Old plastic is bought for Tk40-60 per kilogram, depending on type. Processing 10 tonnes a month costs around Tk5 lakh. Add worker wages, electricity bills, rent, and transport — roughly another Tk150,000 — and total production cost comes to about Tk650,000. Processed plastic pellets sell for Tk80-120 per kilogram depending on type, so selling 10 tonnes can bring in around Tk850,000. After all costs, monthly net profit ranges from Tk150,000 to 2 lakh — though this depends entirely on market demand.

Not everyone earns the same, though. 

Nur Mohammad nets only Tk30,000-40,000 a month after costs from selling pellets. "Sales drop in the rainy season, and sometimes we take a loss then. If deliveries take too long, we get less money too," he said.

Unsafe production, neglected health

These premises, packed with flammable plastic, have no emergency exits, so any fire risks spreading fast. Working with open, uncertified cutting and melting machines often leads to mechanical accidents and burn injuries.

Breathing in fumes from melted plastic and chemical additives damages the lungs and respiratory system. More than 75% of workers at small local establishments handle scrap without masks, gloves, or safety goggles.

Inside these small factories, thousands of kilograms of plastic scrap, pellets, and flakes are stacked up — material that catches fire easily. Built from tin, wood, and iron angle bars, these multi-storey structures often have exposed electrical wiring, and a short circuit can ignite the stored plastic in an instant. 

Recalling an accident, Barek said, "Back in 2011, one of my workers, Zahir, had his wrist caught and burned in an auto machine. I paid nearly Tk3 lakh for his treatment myself, but his hand was never the same again."

From morning until night, the same scene plays out across Islambagh's factories. Somewhere pellets are being made, somewhere flakes are being cut, and somewhere else stacks of bottles, tins, and packets are taking on a new form. These small factories don't just make plastic goods — every day, they keep alive a complex cycle of the city's consumption, waste, and recycling.