{"id":3580,"date":"2019-10-21T17:25:59","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T11:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/?p=3580"},"modified":"2019-10-26T11:39:54","modified_gmt":"2019-10-26T05:39:54","slug":"single-use-plastic-hidden-costs-of-health-environment-in-bangladesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/single-use-plastic-hidden-costs-of-health-environment-in-bangladesh\/","title":{"rendered":"Single Use Plastic: Hidden costs of Health & Environment in Bangladesh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dhaka, 21<\/strong>st<\/strong><\/sup> October, 2019:<\/strong>  Every year, about 87,000 tonnes of single-use plastic are thrown away in Bangladesh. The findings revealed from ESDO study. The study findings were disclosed through a press briefing arranged by Environment and Social Development Organization-ESDO on Monday at its head office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year ESDO\nhas completed its second annual survey of plastics use in Bangladesh, which\nfocused exclusively on single-use plastics (SUP). The organization surveyed\nover 800 people in urban and rural areas of Bangladesh ESDO surveyed over 800 people in urban and rural areas of\nBangladesh, asking detailed questions about what types of plastic they use,\nwhere these plastic items come from, and how they are disposed of. In addition,\nthe study integrated the findings from ESDO\u2019s 2018 study survey of 1200 people\nfrom four major divisional cities (Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Sylhet) to\nderive a comprehensive overview on urban situation. From this survey data, ESDO\nestimates from single use plastic waste, about 96% of which is from food and\npersonal care products.  About 35% of the\ntotal of these wastes are sachets, which are completely non-recyclable. Most\nsingle-use plastics used in Bangladesh are not disposed of properly, and so\nthey end up in the lakes, rivers, or in the ocean. The UN Environment Programme\nestimates that 73 thousand tons of plastics waste ends up to the sea through\nBangladesh\u2019s major rivers Brahmaputra, Meghna and Ganges. ESDO\u2019s study indicates that over\n2,000 tonnes of single-used plastics are used by restaurants every year, with\nan additional 700 tonnes coming from airlines and 600 tonnes from hotels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Single-use\nplastics are those plastic which can be used only one time before thrown away\nor recycled. It includes plastic bags, drinking straws, bottles, cotton buds,\nSachets, food packaging, coffee stirrers and many more. Most plastics do not biodegrade;\ninstead, they slowly break down into smaller fragments known as microplastics.\nIn this breaking down process, they release different toxic chemicals that\neventually enter into our food chain and water supply. And now days, it has\nbeen found in our bloodstream. The latest research has been linked them to\ndifferent physical conditions such as cancer, infertility, birth defects,\nimpaired immunity and many other diseases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESDO\nChairperson and former Secretary Syed Marghub Murshed, Prof. Md. Abul Hashem, former Chairperson and Professor of the department of\nChemistry, Jahangirnagar\nUniversity, Secretary General of ESDO Dr. Shahriar Hossain, other study\nteam members of ESDO along with journalists from electronic and print media\nwere present on this press briefing. Syed Marghub Murshed said, \u201cBecause of\nplastic pollution everything suffers tourism, recreation, and business, the\nhealth of humans, animals, fish and birds. The financial damage continuously\nbeing inflicted is inestimable. Plastic pollution is dangerous. Single Use\nPlastic leached toxic substances gets accumulated in the environment by\ncontaminating air, water and soil, from there humans inhale and ingest these\nand suffer from vulnerable impacts. So immediately we need efficient solution\notherwise we can\u2019t control the flow of plastic pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Dr. Md. Abul Hashem said. \u201cIn\neverywhere we get to see the use and wastage of single use plastic is the most.\nThis is why we need to create awareness among the mass people. Most of the\npeople don\u2019t ever think that plastic can cause a serious health impacts in\nhuman body. Direct\nexposure of Single Use Plastic happens through inhalation, ingestion and direct\nskin contact within the plastic lifecycle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\ncut down on plastic pollution, ESDO is putting forth recommendations for\nconsumers and for the government.  ESDO\nstrongly recommends that the government of Bangladesh pass a complete ban on\nSUP.  \u201cBangladesh must follow the example\nof India and other nations in banning single-use plastics, or we risk being\noverwhelmed as manufacturers and importers turn their attention on us,\u201d says\nESDO Secretary General Dr Shahriar Hossain. \n\u201cBanning single-use plastics is a necessary move to protect the health\nand environment of Bangladesh. Fortunately, cost-effective alternatives are\nwidely available.\u201d  For instance, straws\nmade up of bamboo sticks are being widely used and manufactured in hilly\nregions of the country.  In Kushtia\ndistrict, compostable ice cream cups are produced from leaves.  \u201cLocal production of plant-based alternatives\ncan provide rich opportunities to increase local sustainable manufacturing and\njobs throughout Bangladesh,\u201d explains Professor Dr. Md. Abul Hashem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Bangladesh banned single-use plastic shopping bags\nin 2002, ESDO notes that the country has fallen behind in regulation since\nthen.  Many countries already have banned\nsingle use plastic. However, in Bangladesh, the issue is yet to be addressed\nwith greater priority owing to lack of public awareness. ESDO\u2019s survey report\nreveals that nearly half of the total SUP consumers from urban areas lack\nknowledge of the adverse impacts of plastic pollution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background Information<\/em>:<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1989, under the leadership of Dr. Shahriar Hossain a few enthusiastic people initiated anti polythene campaigning in Bangladesh. ESDO is the first organization initiated campaign against the single use plastic shopping bag in 1990 and organized a nation-wide anti-polythene campaign. After long efforts ESDO is succeeded to ban the production and use of polythene in January 1, 2002 in Dhaka city and March 1, 2002 in countrywide. Now ESDO is focusing on banning single-use plastics (SUP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more Information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Nazma Ahmed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Jr. Program Associate, ESDO <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  E-mail: nazma@esdo.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Mobile: 01557019412<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dhaka, 21st October, 2019:  Every year, about 87,000 tonnes of single-use plastic are thrown away in Bangladesh. The findings revealed from ESDO study. The study findings were disclosed through a press briefing arranged by Environment and Social Development Organization-ESDO on Monday at its head office. This year ESDO has completed its second annual survey of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press_release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3580"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3606,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3580\/revisions\/3606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}