Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what projects his Department supports in Bangladesh that remove plastic waste from (a) rivers and (b) the sea.

The Department for International Development is committed to helping developing countries tackle the problem of marine plastic pollution. We developed the Tackling Waste and Plastic Pollution programme as part of wider UK Government efforts to address this. The programme provides up to £13 million, plus technical assistance and practical support to a number of Commonwealth countries to improve waste management, and to reduce marine plastic pollution. Bangladesh is one of the beneficiary countries. A pilot project is now being developed in Dhaka to understand what works to reduce and manage plastic waste in low income city contexts, including reducing the impact on rivers and oceans.