Experts urge govt for steps to reduce plastic wastes

Experts at a seminar on Thursday urged the government for taking initiatives to reduce plastic waste to save the environment and ensure public health safety.

Mentioning various environmental hazards, they said, the problem of toxic wastes poses such a potential threat and one of the guiding principles of the Basel Convention is to minimise the threat of hazardous wastes.

Environment and Social Development Organisation held the event at a hotel in Dhanmondi in the capital.

Jim Puckett, founder and executive director of Basel Action Network, USA attended the event virtually and said that the plastic waste trade caused serious destruction to the environment and led to the deterioration of public health.

Puckett also said that one of the guiding principles of the Basel Convention is to minimise the threat of hazardous wastes.

ESDO secretary general Shahriar Hossain said Bangladesh is a signatory to Basel Convention but it did not sign the Basel Ban Amendment that deals particularly with wastes and hazardous waste management and its transboundary movement.

The press briefing urged the government to adopt the Basel Ban Amendment into the legal force under the national jurisdiction.

According to the Bangladesh National Report to the Basel Convention, Bangladesh has adopted legislation to implement the provisions of the Basel Convention and the legislation makes provision to prevent illegal traffic of hazardous and other wastes.

Sirine Rached, global policy advocate, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, pointed at the gaps in national plastic waste trade laws in Bangladesh.

Around 1.2 million tonnes of plastic wastes were shipped to Bangladesh in the last three years, according to a study report unveiled by Environment and Social Development Organisation-ESDO on Thursday in the capital.

ESDO chairperson Syed Marghub Morshed urged all to consider the gravity of the plastic waste trade problem as it is hampering the ecosystem of the Bay of Bengal, which would ultimately hinder the sustainable development of Bangladesh.

The daylong event also witnessed a session on environmental journalism to guide journalists on issues of how they can play a leading role in protecting the environment through their regular awareness-raising reporting.