Bangladesh alone produces 0.20 million tonnes of Minipack waste a year
According to a study, our country Bangladesh has produced 1.6 million tonnes of disposable plastic waste in the just-concluded fiscal year, of which 0.19 million tonnes are mini packs of various products.
The research organization Environment and Social Development Organization (ESDO) presented this information at a roundtable meeting titled ‘Plastic Sash: Small Packets with Huge Environment Destruction’ at its office in Lalmatia, Dhaka.
According to ESDO’s research, mini-packs of food (chips, tomato sauce, juice, powdered milk, coffee, etc.) alone produce 40 percent of small plastic waste.
The rate is 24 percent for cosmetics (shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, and mouth freshener), 8 percent for medicines (saline packs, medicine strips), and 7 percent for spices, beverages, and household cleaners. The remaining 7 percent of waste generates in other mini-packs.
Syed Margub Morshed, President of ESDO, said, “Plastic mini-packets are dangerous for the environment. Although it is small in size as a plastic mini packet, its impact on the environment is enormous. ‘
The former secretary urged the government to impose strict restrictions on mini-pack use.
Highlighting the horrors of petty plastic waste, Shahriar Hossain, Secretary-General of ESDO, said, “We have to go back to a time when there was no sash (mini-pack) in the market and people used refill systems for shopping.
We need to impose higher tariffs on the raw materials, production, and marketing of disposable plastic products. “
Cox’s Bazar received 69,841 tonnes (13,968 tonnes of mini-packs) of single-use plastic waste a year, compared to 9,073 tonnes (1,633 tonnes of mini-packs) in the Kutupalong area.
Asking the government to implement a legal framework to control mini packs, Siddika Sultana, Executive Director of ESDO, said,
“The UN Environmental Assembly has already decided to form an intergovernmental committee to discuss and finalize a legally binding plastic convention by 2024.
One hundred seventy-five countries, including Bangladesh, have agreed to this global plastics agreement. So we should prepare ourselves for this and take steps to ban the use of disposable plastic products.”
