10-yr plan to check plastic pollution: Environment minister

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin has said the government has formulated a 10-year action plan to check plastic pollution in the country.

"A 10-year action plan has been formulated to prevent plastic pollution. A three-year plan to ban single-use plastics has been taken," he told a press conference at the Press Information Department (PID) conference room at the Secretariat on Sunday.

As part of taking action against banned polythene shopping bags, the environment minister said, 3,692 cases have been filed through mobile courts from January 2019 to April 2023, while Taka 5.47 crore was realised as fine.

About 1,763 tonnes of polythene was seized and 169 people were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment to this end, he said.

Also, programmes are being implemented to ensure that there is no pollution by single-use plastic in forest areas, including the Sundarbans, Shahab Uddin said.

Deputy Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Habibun Nahar, Environment Secretary Dr Farhina Ahmed and senior officials of the ministry were present at the press conference.

The World Bank Group, in its latest report unveiled in December 2021, found that plastic use was increasing rapidly, as was pollution.

In the past 15 years, Bangladesh’s annual per capita plastic consumption in urban areas has tripled to 9.0 kg in 2020 from 3.0 kg in 2005. Consumption of low-density polyethene increased fivefold in 2020 compared to 2005, according to the WB report.

A World Bank report said that some 977,000 tonnes of plastic were consumed in Bangladesh in 2020 and only 31 per cent of them were recycled. The most mismanaged plastic waste is single-use plastics like shopping bags, packs, and wrappers.

According to another study by the Environment and Social Development Organization, annually 87,000 tonnes of single-use plastics, including plastic bags, bottles, cups, plates, and straws, are thrown away in Bangladesh.

Single-use plastic products include drinking straws, cotton buds, food packaging, food containers, bottles, plates, plastic cutlery, and plastic bags.

To combat pollution, the government framed the Solid Waste Management Rules 2021, but they were not implemented.

In 2021, Bangladesh adopted a plan of action to free the coast from single-use plastic that included 40 upazilas in 12 districts and Chattogram city, following a High Court order.