The Hon’ble High Court of Bangladesh has ordered to stop the use of one-time plastic products within the next year
Tahsin Taha (Student, Dept. of Law,
North-South University, BD)
The Hon’ble high court ordered to ban all kinds of one-time usable plastic products in coastal areas and all type of hotels, restaurants across the country of Bangladesh.
On 6 January 2020, the High court Division bench comprised Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Diliruzzaman issued this order.
Lawyer Sayeda Rezwana Hassan and Sawed Ahmed Kabir were the advocates in the court in favor of the petition, whereas Deputy Attorney General Saiful Din Khalid was for the state.
It was known from the Court sources that the Hon’ble Court issued a rule seeking to find out why the inaction of the defendants in banning the use of plastic material would not be declared “unauthorized and unlawful.”
The High Court also ordered to stop the use of one-time plastic products in the Hotels, Motels, Restaurants and coastal regions by next year.
The court asked the defendants to inform the court on 5 January 2021 about the steps taken on account of stopping the use of one-time plastic products.
The report will have to be submitted to the court by the secretary of Ministry of Industry, Water Resources, Civil Aviation and Tourism and President of Bangladesh Plastic Products Produce and Export Association along with the other four defendants/departments/organizations.
Lawyer Saeed Ahmed Kabir said that there was a provision for banning polythene in a notification in 2002 under the law of Bangladesh Environment Conservation ACT (ECA 1995).
But the use of plastic products such as cotton buds, plastic bottles, plates, shopping bags & food packages is increasing up day by day.
The plastic waste is running towards the Bay of Bengal through 54 rivers (Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, Karnaphuli) and the coastal region. Because of these activities, water, fisheries & marine organisms are being severely affected day by day. Later, on 17 December 2019, 11 organizations, including Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), filed a writ petition to the court & various research papers and effective measures to prevent plastics in different countries were presented in court.
