One of the causes of environmental damage is the residue of cigarettes
The remnants of at least 195 million cigarettes and bidis are spreading in the environment of Bangladesh every day. Tobacco curing causes deforestation. Environmental pollution is also polluted by the smoke created during tobacco drying and cigarette smoking.
The financial value of this environmental damage is still unknown to the relevant government department. Tobacco companies are getting through because there is no specific policy on these issues. Cigarette butts mix with soil and water to destroy essential microorganisms. This causes damage to water and soil.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report ‘Tobacco: Threat to Our Environment’ says that 1.5 crore adults in Bangladesh smoke cigarettes. About 5. 3 million people smoke Bidi and 22 million-use smokeless tobacco.
According to the WHO, 123 million cigarettes consume every day in Bangladesh. The exact amount of cigarette filters are thrown away as garbage.
Moreover, 70.20 million bidis get smoked daily, i.e., the same amount of waste dumped here and there as garbage. As a result, 190.5 million cigarettes and bidis mixing in nature every day.
Cigarette filters look like paper, but they are a kind of plastic. Abdus Salam, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Dhaka University, said, “Cigarette filters made of cellulose acetate type plastic. It is digestible, but it takes a long time.
The filter contains heavy metals like nicotine, benzene, cadmium, and arsenic. Cigarette and bidi residues go into soil and water and destroy essential microorganisms. It causes damage to water and soil.
Anwar Hossain, Assistant Director of Fire Service and Civil Defense, said, ”The burning remnants of cigarettes and bidis are the third leading cause of fires in the country.
There are also environmental damages to the fire. Cigarettes or bidis are made from tobacco leaves and dry in the oven. ” According to Ubinig, a policy study on development options, it takes 240 ounces of wood per oven for one season.
According to Tobacco Atlas, a US-based database on tobacco, 31 percent of deforestation in Bangladesh causes by tobacco.
Syed Mahbubul Alam, technical adviser to The Union, an international anti-tobacco organization, said: “Cigarette-bidi companies are responsible in at least two cases.
Cigarette-bidi residues cause environmental damage, burning wood for tobacco, or deforestation. However, these companies motivate the farmers to cultivate tobacco with advanced money.
The government has so far failed to hold tobacco companies accountable for environmental pollution. When asked, Md Khandaker Fazlul Haque, Director of the environment department (law), said, ‘Environmental protection rules has made.
For the first time, measures have been taken to control the remnants of cigarettes and bidis. In addition, clean air regulations have been drafted, and companies will have to pay for the pollution caused by tobacco.
