Polythene ban falters as affordable alternatives remain out of reach

City Desk :

The government’s initiative to stop the use of illegal polythene bags is not achieving significant success due to the lack of available and affordable alternative shopping bags.

No visible impact of the government’s drives against polythene bags is seen in different kitchen markets, grocery shops and vendors, despite one month having elapsed since the ban was enforced on November 1 last, reports UNB.

Environmental activists, ordinary people and shop owners said the government should focus on developing suitable and affordable alternatives alongside stopping the production of polythene bags and imposing barriers on the import of polythene raw materials.

“The decision to stop the use of polythene bags is the right step. But it would be tough to stop it without giving the people effective alternatives, no matter how much pressure is exerted,” said Dr Lelin Chowdhury, Executive President of Poribesh Bachao Andolan (Poba).

Noting that jute bags have bright potential as alternatives to polythene bags, he suggested the government make jute bags cheap and available. If needed, the government should provide subsidies to make jute bags competitive as they are bio-friendly and environment-friendly.

Regarding the government’s earlier abortive effort to stop the use of polythene in the early 2000s, the environmental activist said the achievement could not be upheld as the then government failed to provide an effective alternative following the ban on polythene at that time.

He said it is not an easy task to change the long-standing habit of using polythene bags. “We’ll have to give people effective alternatives to polythene bags; otherwise, this initiative would not be a complete success this time as well,” said Lenin Chowdhury.

Environmental activist Prof Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder said when polythene bags were first banned in 2002, the people refrained from using them for some days, fearing punishment.

However, they started using polythene again due to the lack of suitable alternative bags.
“This time, there is focus only on the enforcement of the ban on polythene bags. No step is noticed regarding manufacturing alternatives,” he said.

Dr Majumder, the Chairman of the Department of Environmental Science at Stamford University Bangladesh, said polythene bags are manufactured in some 1,000 small factories in Dhaka and outside Dhaka. So, the government needs to pay more attention to shutting down the factories and creating barriers to the import of its raw materials, he said.

The strict enforcement of laws, creating public awareness, stopping the manufacturing of polythene bags, and developing cheap alternative bags should be done simultaneously, said Dr Majumder, who is also the Founder Director of the Centre for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS) at the university.