Poly bags under govt spotlight
Thursday, 21 January 2010
FE Report
Cases were filed against 17 shop-owners for trading in banned non-biodegradable polythene bags in city's Mirpur area Wednesday.
A mobile court of the Department of Environment (DoE), which conducted the drive at Shah Ali Market also realised on the spot fines amounting to Tk 22,000 and confiscated a large stock of poly bags.
DoE deputy director, Farid Ahmed, told the FE the government was set to crackdown on the manufacturers and users of the environmental menace.
In 2002, the government had clamped a ban on production, use and display of thin polythene bags of the type that are still widely used in shops and markets in the country, resulting in clogging of the drainage system, rivers and loss of fertility of the land.
According to the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science of Dhaka University, polythene bags have choked almost 80 per cent of the drainage system of Dhaka city.
Cases were filed against 17 shop-owners for trading in banned non-biodegradable polythene bags in city's Mirpur area Wednesday.
A mobile court of the Department of Environment (DoE), which conducted the drive at Shah Ali Market also realised on the spot fines amounting to Tk 22,000 and confiscated a large stock of poly bags.
DoE deputy director, Farid Ahmed, told the FE the government was set to crackdown on the manufacturers and users of the environmental menace.
In 2002, the government had clamped a ban on production, use and display of thin polythene bags of the type that are still widely used in shops and markets in the country, resulting in clogging of the drainage system, rivers and loss of fertility of the land.
According to the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science of Dhaka University, polythene bags have choked almost 80 per cent of the drainage system of Dhaka city.