Ban One-time plastics -Environmental Expertise
In the name of modern health awareness, the use of disposable (one-time) plastic products in hotels, motels, and restaurants has increased alarmingly. As the days go by, the overuse of single-use plastics and banned polythene bags is rising indiscriminately. However, human health is at most risk due to the overuse of plastics products.
They are also decreasing our land’s fertility. In addition to polluting the air, it endangers marine aquatic plants and the aquatic ecology.
Therefore, the demand to stop producing, selling, marketing, and distributing plastic materials also arose, emphasizing raising individual awareness.
This demand and called to the government and all classes of people in a motivational meeting to implement the court order to stop using disposable/one-time plastic and polythene.
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) organized the meeting was on November 28, 2021, at noon in a Restaurant in Rajshahi, Bangladesh.
It was informed at the meeting, “Market supervision and seizure of polythene manufacturing equipment and closure of factories has become urgent in order to strictly enforce the existing legal ban on the use of disposable plastic and polythene bags.
It is now imperative to formulate an action plan on a safer alternative to one-time plastic products across the country. Besides, eco-friendly alternative products should make available in the market at affordable prices. Otherwise, it will not be possible to protect the environment from pollution unless we stop the use of plastic products.”
According to a study, One-time plastics have been worldwide for over 20-500 years. Every year there produces about 150 million tons of disposable/one-time plastic products worldwide. A plastic bottle can produce about 10,000 tiny particles, or microplastics, that remain in the environment.
Microplastics are plastic particles with a diameter of fewer than five millimeters. They are available in various domestic and everyday objects, including our clothes, furniture, and food and beverage containers.
We are currently dealing with record levels of plastic litter in our food, water, and environment, most of which are microplastics. They are formed either on purpose (primary) or due to the breakdown of bigger plastic particles (secondary).
Microplastics can build up in the food web, leach hazardous substances, and even concentrate and transmit other chemicals, germs, and infections. Microplastics are always present in humans’ environments, such as airborne particulate matter, drinking water, consumer products, and the food chain.
Once in the body, these compounds can seep off the plastic surface, raising the risk of harmful effects. Microplastics have the potential to cause cancer due to their carcinogenic qualities. They can also be mutagenic, which means they can cause DNA damage.
However, in Bangladesh, about 30,000 tons of plastic waste have been found in the rivers Buriganga, Turag, Balu, and Shitalakshya, which flow around Dhaka, Bangladesh. Half of it got found in the river Buriganga. So, it is easy to understand how plastic products have become a threat.
Dr Redwanur Rahman, Professor at the Institute of Environmental Sciences, presided over the motivational program organized with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (BIDA). Tanmoy Kumar Sanyal, the Regional Coordinator of BELA, presented the keynote address at the meeting.
Other officials from the respective organizations and stakeholders were present at the program.
