Plastic pollution, a major threat to nature and biodiversity

This year’s World Environment Day was observed in Bangladesh on Wednesday with the slogan ‘No more plastic pollution, it’s time to stop’. Plastic pollution has reached an alarming level.

Plastic usually does not mix with soil. It contains a type of chemical that is hazardous to the environment and health.

Plastic is one of the causes of various diseases including cancer, kidney complications, and high blood pressure.

Marking the day at a function in the capital on Wednesday morning, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus urged all to avoid destroying nature and stop the production and use of single-use plastic products and come together to plant trees and create a beautiful environment for the generations to come.

Later, he also inaugurated a three-day Environment Fair-2025 and the Tree Fair-2025 there on the occasion.

Experts warned that plastic is entering our daily food. Uncontrolled plastic waste is continuously ending up in rivers and wetlands. Fishes are consuming this waste, which is then entering the human food chain.

And it is not just fish; plastic waste is now mixing into our water, salt, sugar, flour, and even the air. Shockingly, it is also even found in breast milk and human embryos and sperm.

In the 1950s, plastic became an important part of the world’s economy, agriculture, and medicine, as it was affordable and sustainable.

But when this artificial material is produced in large quantities and then ends up in the environment uncontrollably after use, it becomes a global crisis.

Global plastic production has increased hundreds of times in the past few decades. Currently, 430 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year, of which 280 million tons are plastic waste.

Of the 6,464 tons of waste collected daily in Bangladesh, 10 percent is plastic (646 tons daily).

The vast majority of plastic ends up in the environment-in rivers, canals, oceans, forests, or open land-where it remains intact for hundreds of years.

Plastic disrupts our water drainage and is also responsible for flooding and waterlogging. It is increasing health risks and making Dhaka uninhabitable. At the same time, it is destroying the fertility of land.

Although the production, marketing and use of polythene bags are banned, everything is happening openly under the nose of the administration.

It is important to ensure strict implementation of the law to prevent illegal production, marketing and use of plastic as it has become a growing threat to the environment and public health.