Scattered around Dhaka, Bangladesh’s chaotic capital, brick factories cut and bake the foundation of the countries breakneck building boom.
Despite recent initiatives to improve efficiency and reduce green house gasses, Bangladesh’s brick making produces 6-million tons of CO2 annually, according to the United Nations Development Program.
Child labor is another issue in the country and in the brick-making industry. An estimated 5.7 million 10- to 14-year olds work in Bangladesh, according to the US Department of Labor. At the brick factory I visited, children much younger than 10 toiled in the kiln’s heat and dust, alongside their mothers and siblings.