This week, Anne Main MP is in Bangladesh as part of a parliamentary delegation, together with representatives from the Conservative Friends of Bangladesh (CFoB) and the Conservative Friends of International Development (CFID). The group helped to pick up litter and plastic waste from the banks of the Surma River in Sylhet.
The St Albans MP, who chairs the APPG for the Prevention of Plastic Waste, has been raising awareness of the importance of reducing plastic waste during her visit to Bangladesh.
Mrs Main was accompanied by Paul Scully MP, Bob Blackman MP, a team of local Scouts and three representatives from the St Albans’ British Bangladeshi community during the clean-up project.
The reduction of plastic waste has been a priority for Mrs Main for several years, and Anne has been raising this issue, both in and out of Parliament, about the need for a comprehensive policy for the long-term reduction of plastic waste, both on a national and global scale.
The delegation that Mrs Main is leading will also be visiting a number of schools, hospitals, local businesses and charities around the capital, Dhaka, and also in Sylhet - the twin city of St Albans.
As President of the CFoB and Chair of the APPG for Bangladesh, this will be Mrs Main’s eighth social action visit to the country during her 14 years as an MP.
Following the clean-up operation in Sylhet, Mrs Main said:
“It was a privilege to meet and help the team of activists from Clean Surma Green. They are devoting their time to help improve the environment they live in and that is wonderful to see. Sylhet is twinned with St Albans, so having three St Albans residents join me to help out was brilliant.
“Ultimately, this was about raising awareness. We managed to get a lot of local and national press coverage for our visit. Hopefully people, across Bangladesh, will see that it’s important we look after our environment. Plastic pollution is a major problem globally and developing nations like Bangladesh are badly impacted, so I hope our visit will encourage others to be more conscious of how they dispose of their waste.
“The Clean Surma Green group was made up of local Scouts, activists and university students. They are doing a wonderful job and I hope they will get more and more young people involved who are willing to help.”
Notes to editors:
• https://www.facebook.com/sylsurma/
