Addressing plastic pollution

Spending a day without any use of plastic in our everyday life seems to be almost an impossible task. It has become an inseparable part of our daily life. There is hardly any sector where we do not see use of plastic and poly bags.

Although Bangladesh was among the first countries to ban use of plastic and polythene back in 2002, the ban, unfortunately, has had little success. According to the Environment and Social Development Organisation, the country now produces around 87,000 tonnes of single-use plastic waste annually and 86 per cent of this waste is dumped in landfills.

The reason why we are so dependent on it is its availability. But do we have any idea what this 'mandatory' thing can bring to our lives? We might have forgotten that the cause of one of the longest and deadliest floods in Bangladesh was dumped poly bags.

Had the government enforced the ban strictly, the scene could have been different. Every plastic item ever made still exists. Plastic bags take between 400 and 1,000 years to break down. Even then, it does not fully decompose. So when you throw away plastic, it does not vanish. It's important for the government to reintroduce the ban so that we can save ourselves from this plastic pandemic.

Sharmin Sadia

Student of Marketing

Jahangirnagar University