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Environment, Forests and Climate Change Saber Hossain Chowdhury on Tuesday that from January 2019 to December 2023, the Environment Ministry conducted 2,516 raids for the crime of production and use of banned polythene and realised a fine of Tk 61.7 million in 4,207 cases.
The minister said this in the parliament while replying to a query of the ruling Awami League MP elected from Laxmipur, Nur Uddin Chowdhury.
He also said that 170 people were imprisoned for various terms, some 2071.37 tonnes of polythene, seeds, and raw materials seized, and some 16 regular cases filed in these connections.
In response to a written question from Noor Uddin Chowdhury, the environment minister said that considering the harmful aspects of polythene, the government has already imposed restrictions on the production and marketing of polythene, which is harmful to the environment.
He mentioned that in order to stop the use of polythene, the production, marketing, and use of polythene bags of various thicknesses are prohibited by law.
Highlighting the various steps taken by the ministry, the minister said that a mobile court is being conducted regularly with the executive magistrate of the Department of Environment and the executive magistrate of the district administration to stop the banned polythene shopping bags.
Since July 2010, under the enforcement programme of the Department of Environment, the banned polythene manufacturing factories have been evicted. And compensation is being collected from the owners, he said.
Various initiatives have been taken to increase public awareness.
Saber Hossain Chowdhury said that in the current government’s election manifesto, the use of environmentally friendly decomposable plastic instead of plastic products has been included to control the adverse effects of plastic products on the environment.
The government has already formulated the ‘Solid Waste Management Rules, 2021’, the minister said.
He said that the 5R (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and recovery) policy has been taken as a basic principle in the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2021.
Following the High Court’s order to stop the use of single-use plastic, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has identified 40 upazilas in 12 districts of the coastal region as coastal areas and formulated a 3-year action plan to stop the use of single-use plastic in that area.