Plastic bottle recycling factory

Bangladeshi people work in a plastic bottle recycling factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on February 08, 2018. After removing the labels and caps, and gathering the bottles in giant sacks, they take them to a crushing machine - operated by male workers - where the bottles are reduced to millions of plastic flakes. The flakes are cleaned with water and then put into a drying machine, before they're finally packaged in white bags and prepared for exporting to countries including China, South Korea and Taiwan where they'll eventually be used for making new bottles. What the plant doesn't export it sells to other companies in Bangladesh, where the flakes are made into plastic chairs, bottles and other plastic items. The factory's staff of 19, most of whom commute from outside of Dhaka, are part of the fast-growing recycling industry, and one that can provide steady employment in impoverished Bangladesh. By the standards of most factories in the South Asian country, this one is reportedly in fair condition, though staff don't wear safety gear such as face masks or gloves. A female worker work 12 hours (from 8 am to 8 pm) and earn the equivalent of less than $2 a day, most work there to supplement the earnings that their husbands bring in. The two laborers who worked with babies in their arms bring their children to work because they still breastfeed them and there is no one else to take care of them. About half of the population of Bangladesh, which stands at 168.9 million people, lives in poverty, with around 76 percent of working people earning $2 a day, according to United Nations Development Program statistics.