It is good to note that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has asked all government offices at the district level and coastal areas to take measures for stopping the use of single-use plastic. Issuing a circular, the ministry requested respective offices to hold regular meetings with stakeholders to increase awareness about plastic and polythene pollution. It is worth mentioning that in January 2020, the High Court issued a directive to the Department of Environment (DoE) to put an end to the use of single-use plastic in hotels, motels, and restaurants in coastal areas within two years.
Plastic is polluting every corner of the planet. The scale of plastic pollution has become alarming with millions of tonnes of plastic waste existing almost everywhere posing serious threats to human and animal health and destroying nature as well. We do not know exactly how long plastic products take to degrade, but we know that once they are in our soil, rivers and oceans, it is impossible to clean up.
It is time to determine concrete
targets and devise roadmaps for
reducing avoidable plastic use
Plastic wastes not only pollute our terrestrial biodiversity but according to UN, some 11 million tonnes of plastic waste flow annually into oceans polluting and destroying marine biodiversity. Currently, the overwhelming majority of plastic products aren’t biodegradable. As such the plastic in use today is likely to stick around for thousands of years, posing a threat to the lives of animals, aquatic organisms and humans alike.
It is disconcerting to learn that around 17,000 tonnes of plastic is produced in the country every day and only half of it is recycled, according to the Department of Environment. Reportedly, in Dhaka city alone, plastic waste has gone up more than 3.5 times from 178 tons per day in 2005 to 646 tons per day in 2020. Of that 646 tons, only 37 percent is recycled, and mostly by the informal sector.
Considering the fact that plastic use is unavoidable, recycling of plastic waste has become more than a necessity. We cannot reduce its use due to its flexibility but we can surely reuse it to minimise its impact on environment. We need to conduct awareness campaigns to convince consumers to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics and encourage them to move towards healthier and more sustainable ways of living that will benefit their families and their communities.
It is time to determine concrete targets and devise roadmaps for reducing avoidable plastic use. Necessary steps should be taken to scale up plastic waste collection and reinforce recycling capacity through investment. In order to reduce plastic pollution, we all have an essential role to play, from making small lifestyle changes -- such as shopping with reusable bags -- to raising our voices for more progressive and sustainable policies. Our voices can become an impetus behind public policy decisions.