Plastic, Plastic Pollution and Plastic Recycling: An Overview in Bangladesh Perspective

Abstract

Plastic derived product has now become an essential commodity in our daily life. A large volume of used plastics poses serious environmental threats resulting in danger to marine life, a decrease in soil fertility and pollution of groundwater. For a developing country, like Bangladesh, it is very difficult as well as challenging also to maintain and manage the control of the pollution of this vast plastic waste. The major reasons for deficient plastic management in Bangladesh are scarcity of facilities, infrastructure development and inadequate allocation for waste management. Neither is any significant or effective action taken or there is no particular or specific law to control the ongoing plastic pollution. The prevailing environmental laws in the country are not adequate enough to address the problem and their implementations are also largely absent. On the other hand, plastic recycling (recycling is reprocessing of used materials from their original state into a new form or sometimes intended for solid-state disposal) is becoming more popular day by day in other countries but unfortunately, the scenario of plastic recycling in Bangladesh is not satisfactory at all. The existing paper aims to determine the causes of plastic pollution and its impacts on the environment and livelihood; to scrutinize the prevailing related laws and policies; to briefly analyze the plastic recycling scenario in Bangladesh and to conclude with recommendations to stop plastic pollution in Bangladesh. The paper makes use of secondary data, that is books, articles, national and international law reports, acts, etc.