Bangladesh annually throws 8 lakh tonne plastics into sea

Only Bangladesh throws around eight lakh tonnes of plastics and polythene into the sea every year.

Lack of awareness in the use of plastics and polythene is increasing day by day, accelerating the sea pollution.

Speakers on Tuesday said all these at a seminar titled "Marine Litter and Micro Plastics" held at the conference room of the Department of Environment (DoE) in Chattogram.

They discussed how to prevent plastic pollution in the marine environment and underscored the need for making people aware of devastating effects of plastic pollution by changing their habits and behaviours.

Moazzam Hossain, the regional director of the DoE in Chattogram, and Nurullah Noori, director of the Chattogram DoE's divisional laboratory, among others, spoke at the seminar with Dr Mahfuzul Haque, the former secretary and team leader of SR Asia Bangladesh, in the chair.

The speakers said the plastic industry in Bangladesh is getting large every day. Currently, the industry size is $3 billion. Out of it, the domestic market is of $2.2 billion and the export volume is $0.8 billion. Plastic products worth $1.2 billion were imported in 2013.

They also said urban areas in Bangladesh use about 14.95 kg plastics per annum whereas the national average is 3.5 kg. Plastic products thrown away ultimately end up into the river and ocean water.

People are polluting the marine environment by throwing plastic waste into it. From plastics, fish take in micro particles which get in human bodies through the food chain, they added.