Joynal Abedin Khan :
Unabated use of polythene shopping bags despite government ban throughout the country poses threat to the environment.
Polythene bags are multi-purposely used in the kitchen markets, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants and playgrounds.
About the reasons of rampant use thereof, Md Abdus Sobhan, Executive General Secretary of Paribesh Bachao Andolon Bangladesh (POBA), said that consumers use it as there is no jute bags, nor any other similar light object. He blamed government for not manufacturing sufficient jute bags.
There are more than 1,000 polythene manufacturing factories in the country. About 68 environment Mobile Court has so far forfeited 2.66 mt of polythene and realised Tk 62.45 lakh as drive.
He cited the reasons as non-enforcement of laws in controlling polythene bags, the government’s failure to make jute goods available and cheaper and lack of interest by jute bag producers in the face of more price-competitive plastic bags.
“The POBA already has requested to the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) by issuing letters to take necessity steps to control the usage of polythene.
Even the organization’s leaders met several DCs and Superintendent of Polices (SPs) in the last few months as part of the campaign to grow public awareness,” the POBA GS said.
Some 266.58 metric tons of polythene have been seized and Tk 62.45 lakh collected as fine by conducting 689 mobile courts in the last five years, The DOE official sources said.
At least 60 cases were filed with the Environment Court during the period for violation of the rules relating to polythene, they added.
A mobile court has seized machinery of a polythene manufacturing factory in the city’s Lalbagh area on Tuesday.
The DoE raided 14 factories in the last three months and seized 790 kg polythene bags from different parts of Dhaka Metropolis.
The Rapid Action Battalion-9 (RAB) in separate drives seized huge banned non-biodegradable polythene bags from several parts of the Sylhet city on October 4.
Earlier, the DoE in a drive seized seven maunds of banned polythene bags from three shops in the city’s Mahajanpatti area and realised Tk13,000 as fine from them on July 13.
A mobile court the DoE in Chittagong in a drive seized 1,525 kilograms of banned polythene raiding eight shops at different markets in the port city’s Reazuddin Bazar and fined the shops Tk 39000 on September on 23.
The DoE’s Assistant Director Mahbubur Rahman said that lack of enforcement of the ban on plastic bag and the absence of a cost-effective alternative are responsible for the failure to wipe out plastic from the markets and other sectors.
Director General of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute Md Kamal Uddin said, jute goods will not be popular until polythene bags are banished from the market. “Jute products will never be cost-effective, if polythene is not removed,” he said.
The government in 2010 enacted another law, titled the ‘Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010’ for the compulsory use of jute in packaging products instead, sources said.
Unabated use of polythene shopping bags despite government ban throughout the country poses threat to the environment.
Polythene bags are multi-purposely used in the kitchen markets, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants and playgrounds.
About the reasons of rampant use thereof, Md Abdus Sobhan, Executive General Secretary of Paribesh Bachao Andolon Bangladesh (POBA), said that consumers use it as there is no jute bags, nor any other similar light object. He blamed government for not manufacturing sufficient jute bags.
There are more than 1,000 polythene manufacturing factories in the country. About 68 environment Mobile Court has so far forfeited 2.66 mt of polythene and realised Tk 62.45 lakh as drive.
He cited the reasons as non-enforcement of laws in controlling polythene bags, the government’s failure to make jute goods available and cheaper and lack of interest by jute bag producers in the face of more price-competitive plastic bags.
“The POBA already has requested to the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) by issuing letters to take necessity steps to control the usage of polythene.
Even the organization’s leaders met several DCs and Superintendent of Polices (SPs) in the last few months as part of the campaign to grow public awareness,” the POBA GS said.
Some 266.58 metric tons of polythene have been seized and Tk 62.45 lakh collected as fine by conducting 689 mobile courts in the last five years, The DOE official sources said.
At least 60 cases were filed with the Environment Court during the period for violation of the rules relating to polythene, they added.
A mobile court has seized machinery of a polythene manufacturing factory in the city’s Lalbagh area on Tuesday.
The DoE raided 14 factories in the last three months and seized 790 kg polythene bags from different parts of Dhaka Metropolis.
The Rapid Action Battalion-9 (RAB) in separate drives seized huge banned non-biodegradable polythene bags from several parts of the Sylhet city on October 4.
Earlier, the DoE in a drive seized seven maunds of banned polythene bags from three shops in the city’s Mahajanpatti area and realised Tk13,000 as fine from them on July 13.
A mobile court the DoE in Chittagong in a drive seized 1,525 kilograms of banned polythene raiding eight shops at different markets in the port city’s Reazuddin Bazar and fined the shops Tk 39000 on September on 23.
The DoE’s Assistant Director Mahbubur Rahman said that lack of enforcement of the ban on plastic bag and the absence of a cost-effective alternative are responsible for the failure to wipe out plastic from the markets and other sectors.
Director General of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute Md Kamal Uddin said, jute goods will not be popular until polythene bags are banished from the market. “Jute products will never be cost-effective, if polythene is not removed,” he said.
The government in 2010 enacted another law, titled the ‘Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010’ for the compulsory use of jute in packaging products instead, sources said.
