According to a recent study, more than 78 thousand tons of polythene bag waste was generated in one year of the pandemic in Bangladesh, and the Illegal production of polythene bags has gone up by half a million a day. ESDO unveiled the study finding in this Policy Briefing.ESDO assessed the country situation of polythene bag usage from April’20 to March’21 by baseline survey. It was found that the total generated waste from used polythene bags in Dhaka is about 5996 tons and in the whole country, this is around 78433 tons.
Fig: Webinar on ‘World Environment Day’
Former Secretary and ESDO Chairperson Syed Marghub Murshed chaired the session; addressing the alarming situation of poly bag uses he urged the government to take immediate legal steps to stop all illegal production and marketing of poly bag. Syed Marghug Murshed also called the SMEs to come forward to produce more alternatives to poly bags. Amongst others, Ms. Keya Khan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate ChangeBottom of Form participated in the dialogue and encouraged people to behave responsibly. The meeting recommends a set of roles and responsibilities to enforce poly bag ban law in Upazila to the District and particularly in all city corporation areas. Participants also underlined the need for mass public awareness and more ever promoting Zero-waste practice and living.
World Environment Day takes place every year on 5 June. It is the United Nations’ flagship day for promoting worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Over the years, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental public outreach and is celebrated by millions of people across the world. ESDO celebrated this day for enforcing the law on the polythene bag ban in Bangladesh. It is the Pioneer organization to ban plastic bag that started its journey back in 1990 and still fighting to restore the ecosystem.
