PINAKI ROY

Three and a half years into the High Court order to ban single-use plastic products in the coastal districts, there has been no visible progress towards implementation.

Every day large quantities of single-use plastic items are released into the rivers or dumped along the shorelines, which eventually flow into the Bay of Bengal.

Scientists and environmental activists say that single-use plastic items, when released into the rivers or the sea, affects biodiversity and hurt the fish and mammal populations, and all marine life.

The HC order, issued in January 2020 in response to a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (BELA), tasked the Department of Environment with enforcing the ban by 2021.

The government department in 2021 launched a three-year project through a gazette notification to phase out single-use plastic items in 12 coastal districts (Bagerhat, Barguna, Bhola, Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Feni, Khulna, Lakkhipur, Noakhali, Patuakhali, Pirojpur and Satkhira) and eight areas of Chattogram.

“Apparently the Department of Environment has issued the notification just to avoid being held in contempt of court. But practically nothing has happened in the field,” BELA Chief Executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan told The Daily Star.

Controlling the use of single-use plastic and managing the plastic waste properly is the only solution, said Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder, dean at the faculty of science, Stamford University Bangladesh.

“The government has to implement the High Court order properly,” he said.

If plastic items go into the rivers and the sea, Majumder stressed, they may turn into microplastics, which eventually enter the food chain, putting consumers’ health at high risk.

Even if it does not flow into the waters, it will pollute the soil, hamper the growth of plants and resist water recharging of the ground water, he added.

According to a World Bank study, Bangladesh’s annual per capita plastic consumption in urban areas tripled to 9.0 kg in 2020 from 3.0 kg in 2005.