Poly bags stage sly comeback
ANISUR RAHMAN KHAN
Polythene bags have made a comeback to markets across the country even after they have been banned in accordance with the Bangladesh Environment Conservation (Amendment 1995) Act, 2010, amid growing concerns about their harmful effects on the environment. There is a complete ban on production, import, marketing, sales, display, storing, distribution, transportation, and use of polythene of less than 55 micron thickness for business purposes under the existing law. But polythene manufacturers are still producing and marketing such bags due to the lack of implementation of the law, it has been alleged.
According to sources, there are about 1,200 polythene factories across the country. Among them, at least 300 are located in Dhaka, especially in the old part of the city. Earlier, on January 1, 2002, the then Cabinet had approved the environment ministrys proposal to prohibit the use and marketing of thin polythene bags in Dhaka city considering their environmental and ecological hazards.
In fact, the government made the use of jute bags compulsory through an amendment to the Jute Packaging Act, 2013, after banning the use of plastic and polythene bags. Each family in Dhaka has to use four polythene bags daily. About two crore polythene bags are thrown away after being used only one time daily in Dhaka alone, Abdus Sobhan, former additional director general of the Department of Environment (DoE), told The Independent yesterday.
These discarded bags fill up drains, canals and wetlands, causing waterlogging and threatening the environment, he added. There are many environment-friendly bags, such as those made of jute, paper and clothes, in the market. But polythene bags are being produced and sold by ignoring the law. Its happening only because of the inactive role of DoE officials, the former DoE official said. Sobhan alleged that the NBR and the police department are also not taking any action against the syndicate involved in the production and marketing of polythene bags. Polythene bags are being marketed by a syndicate. They transport these bags across the country using trucks with a signboard that proclaims the vehicle to be engaged in emergency export duty, he said.
At least 300 polythene factories are in Dhaka. They are mostly set up in Keraniganj, Zinjira, Kamrangirchar, Mirpur, Karwan Bazar, Tejgaon, Tongi, Jatrabari, Fatulla, Narayanganj and on the banks of the Buriganga, he noted. Besides, hundreds of polythene factories have been set up in Chittagong.
Major wholesale markets for polythene bags are in Chawkbazar, Begumbazar and Moulvibazar in the capital. Besides, Bhairab Bazar in Kishoreganj, Chittagong, Munshiganj, Bogra and Shariatpur have some of the largest markets for these bags. Sobhan, who is also the general secretary of Poribesh Bachao Andalan (POBA), said, about 35 lakh pieces of tissue bags are being produced daily in the country. These bags are actually made of polythene instead of paper. These tissue bags have flooded the shopping malls, departmental stores, shoe shops, fashion houses, cloth stores and commercial departments. As a result, the number of bags made of jute and cloth have drastically declined, the green activist added.
The government should take stern action against persons involved in producing and marketing polythene and tissue bags for the sake of environment and ecology, Sobhan said. The DoE has scarcity of magistrates to conduct regular drives against the perpetrators, Kazi Sarwar Imtiaz Hashmi, ADG of the DoE, told The Independent yesterday.
Weve only one magistrate for conducting drives in Dhaka. Well go for drastic action against polythene manufacturers and marketers soon as a decision is taken in this regard, he said in reply to a query.
He also said that there have been some alternatives to jute bags as well. Were also thinking of producing bags from maize, he added.
