THE earliest few steps that the environment adviser to the interim took were about reducing plastic pollution, but the pollution continued unabated. A photograph that 抖阴精品 published on August 23 shows how the original channel of the River Buriganga is clogged with plastic wastes at Islambagh in Dhaka. Most of the city canals, meanwhile, lost their water flow because they have been rather plastic dumps. The environment, forest and climate change ministry in August 2024 issued a directive that listed 17 single-use plastic products, including bottles, bags, fast food wraps and one-time cutlery, as hazardous and asked retailers and others concerned to phase out the products. In the first phase, the ban on the use of polythene bags came into effect on November 1. While the ban was welcomed by many, industry stakeholders termed the ban 鈥榳himsical鈥� and considered it abrupt and unilateral given that there are 6,000 factory units that produce single-use plastic items. They have suggested that a long-term phase-out plan and alternatives to plastic products and livelihood for the people affected. The ban, otherwise, will not contain the pollution. The observation was not wrong given that the plastic pollution has continued.
Bangladesh experiences a severe case of plastic pollution. An estimated 250 tonnes of single-use plastic enter the environment every month, of which about 80鈥�85 per cent of plastic waste ends up in drains, lakes, rivers and the Bay of Bengal. Metal and toxic wastes released through the unplanned disposal of plastic items are diffused in the environment and enter the food chain. In this context, the decision to ban one-time plastic use, originally taken in 2002, is justified, but successive governments have never been successful because of its policy contradictions. The government, on the one hand, has imposed a ban on the use of single-use plastic. Yet, it has encouraged investment in the sector through export incentives and by designating it as a priority sector for economic diversification. For an effective implementation of the ban, business and social interests associated with plastic products should, therefore, be addressed. Decades of marketing of single-use plastic products has changed consumer behaviour and for a change, there is a need for awareness campaigns. The industrial economy in this case is not necessarily limited to the concern expressed by industry owners that the sudden ban would risk their investment. There is also the informal recycling economy that the working class, particularly floating people in urban areas, relies on for their livelihood.
For the government to make the decision to divest from single-use plastic viable, it should work out a long-term plan to stop the use of single-use plastic products. It should also consider providing financial support and training for stakeholders so that they can transition to producing biodegradable alternatives.