Bangladesh's environmental disaster worsens with 2,400 tons of plastic waste per day
Beijing, June 5 (CHINanet) -- Bangladesh is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to climate change, and plastics are quietly exacerbating the country's environmental disaster, the Daily Star reported on the 5th. Of all the waste, plastic is the most dangerous to the densely populated developing country, and plastic shopping bags or food packaging that people use for a few minutes to a few hours will continue to linger in the country's environment for hundreds of years, the newspaper reported.
The report notes that developed countries are taking a three-pronged approach to the overwhelming threat of plastic - reduce, reuse and recycle. But Bangladesh, while possessing a law to reduce plastic use, has faltered in its implementation.
A 2021 World Bank study suggests that only 31% of single-use plastic products in the country are recycled. In addition, per capita plastic use in Bangladesh has tripled from 3kg in 2005 to 9kg in 2021. In Dhaka, the figure is 24kg, almost three times that of the rest of the country's urban areas.
In Bangladesh's roadmap for Sustainable Plastics management, the World Bank recommends that Bangladesh recycle 50 percent of all plastics it uses by 2025 and 80 percent by 2030.
IjazHossain, former dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said Bangladesh produces about 24,000 tonnes of waste every day, of which 10 per cent comes from plastics. He noted that the country faces two types of problems when it comes to plastic recycling. One is household source sorting and the other is littering. In home source sorting, plastic is mixed with other waste, making it difficult to sort. If source sorting is handled properly, the amount of plastic waste collected will increase.
June 5th is World Environment Day. This year's World Environment Day focuses on "solutions to plastic pollution", with the United Nations calling on governments, companies and other stakeholders to accelerate action to tackle the plastic pollution crisis, according to the UN website.