Bangladesh, Oct. 24 -- Several families from the Rishi (Dalit) community live next to the helipad at Chitalmari Upazila. One of them is Sujan Biswas, 35. He works as a cobbler on the pavement of Upazila Sadar Bazar to earn a living. He earns 200 to 300 taka a day, and his family somehow survives on this, often going without enough food.

But in these conditions of poverty, the huge garbage dump in front of his house has constantly troubled him. Tons of garbage from the market are dumped there every day, which is extremely harmful to the environment and to unborn children.

To protect the environment, he with his children, Sujan decided to produce fuel oil by burning polythene. With the little money he earned from mending shoes and sandal...