In Bangladesh, even drain covers and manhole covers get stolen. Hence, everything, even recycling bins need to be looked after by security personnel. This high rate of theft resulted in recycle bins being stolen as well. Dhaka City Corporation had installed 15,000 recycle bins and 80% of these had been stolen. As a result, people litter plastic all over the city. The city remains unclean, drains get clogged and pollution keeps getting worse.

The brief was to come up with a bin solution where the bins couldn't be stolen.

Our objective was to create a solution that incorporated a mechanism to not let bins be stolen and to make it truly sustainable. We took a lateral leap to find that there are over 1.5 million rickshaw pullers in Dhaka who could potentially fulfil the duty of guards. Hence, the world's first initiative to attach recycling bins to rickshaws.

Dhaka is known as the capital of rickshaws; these vehicles are everywhere across the city. And rickshaw art is the art form that belongs to the people, the streets, and the heart of this city; it is a part of the culture of Bangladesh. The Rickshaw Bins therefore were designed in the aesthetic of rickshaw art to seamlessly be merged into the vehicles. We hired a professional rickshaw artist and even used the same material that is used for the rickshaw hood to create the bins. We then attached the harmoniously designed rickshaw bins to the rickshaws.

Anytime that people would dispose of plastic into these bins, they would think well of the brand responsible - Bidyanondo. Increasing brand equity with the ambient work in a manner which keeps the city cleaner, and attempts to decrease the burden of plastic on the global environment.

A sustainable bin solution has been enabled

Plastic pollution decreased across the city

Launched across 9 cities following Dhaka's story of effectiveness

7,600 bins installed

22,000 kg of plastic collected per day on average.

Increased the daily income of rickshaw pullers with Rickshaw Bins by 4 USD

Covered by 30+ media outlets

PR Value: 50,000+ USD

Many rickshaw pullers adapted this idea

Even political leaders appreciated the initiative