Phasing out plastic products: Stakeholders for following global practice

Golam Rabbi, a resident of New Eskaton, Dhaka, argued with an attendant at the cash counter of a Shwapno super shop outlet in the area over a Tk11 charge for a jute bag.

The altercation arose after the government banned the use of polyethylene bags in such shops from 1 October 2024.

Ultimately, Rabbi left the outlet without purchasing grocery items worth about Tk 1,300, upset by the Tk 11 charge for the jute bag.

The sales operators tried to explain by showing him the government order banning plastic bags in super shops, but he remained unconvinced.

Incidents like this are becoming common as sales operators now supply fish, meat, and other frozen items in paper bags instead of polybags following the government's embargo on plastic bags in super shops.

Bangladesh generates about 87,000 tonnes of single-use plastics annually, much of which ends up as waste. As a result, the government has begun enforcing a ban on single-use plastics as part of broader efforts to reduce plastic waste, starting with grocery bags.

Experts said that Bangladesh has been grappling with a significant plastic pollution problem. The country's rapid industrialisation and growing population have increased demand for plastic products.

This, coupled with inadequate waste management infrastructure, has led to widespread plastic pollution, particularly in urban areas and waterways, they added.

In response to this issue, the interim government issued a gazette notification on 27 August 2024, to phase out single-use plastics (SUP) in 17 sectors, in accordance with an order from the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change issued on 20 June 2024.

The notification instructs immediate implementation of the ban to protect the environment and reduce pollution.

Stakeholders

Shamim Ahmed, President of Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) told UNB that an inter-ministerial meeting is a must before issuing such an order banning SUP in 17 sectors, otherwise, 6000 industries will be heavily affected and thousands of labour would be unemployed.

"Government officials attended such meetings earlier without any home study on the issue, as a result, they (officials) do not understand what decision will be fruitful, and what the alternative of the plastic products is," he pointed out from his long-time experience.

We recently attended a workshop in Japan on plastic products and visited Singapore. 

BPGMEA President Ahmed said these developed Asian countries use plastic in every sector, like Bangladesh. However, they (Japan and Singapore) collect 100 percent of plastic waste and recycle it.

He said considering inadequate supply, higher prices, and lack of adoption capacity of plastic alternative sources, developed countries like Japan and Singapore cannot be successful in using the alternative of plastic so far.

Most of the countries in the world are focusing on well management of recycling plastic waste, which is a good alternative so far, he said.

Shamim Ahmed giving examples of the export-oriented and domestic consumption packaging sector said that packaging is not possible without Iodised salt that comes from plastic, edible oil packaging without plastic bottles and liquid milk packaging is impossible.

The resolution adopted by the United Nations Environment Assembly on 2 March 2022, has focused on establishing effective recycling infrastructure considering the proportion of plastic in the circular economy globally.

Proposal to manage plastic waste from stockholders

The BPGMEA has put forward a proposal to protect the environment and industries before the invention of suitable alternatives to plastic products. It suggested plastic waste into wealth by developing the right waste management plans for Bangladesh.

Developing awareness among common people to dispose of plastic in a specific place, including textbook curriculum about waste management, setting up enough 'BIN' for plastic waste in different places including bus-rail stations, parks, and walkways.

Use Local Government Institute (LGI) to enhance knowledge adoption and supply equipment at subsidised rates for setting up plastic waste management plants in urban areas.

Introduced plastic circularity for sustainable waste management, through which the government should arrange technology supply and provide loans at reduced interest rates for setting waste management plans in Bangladesh like other developed countries.

Banning plastic production is not a solution, so Bangladesh should follow in this regard otherwise industry operation would be quite impossible. Such as food processing, Pharmaceuticals packages, hospital equipment, agricultural modernisation, and export packaging sectors would not run without plastic products. Banning steps will affect these industries heavily, said the industry stockholders.

Statistics of plastic-related industries

According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data published in 2021

Client Opinion

Unilever Bangladesh, a leading fast-moving consumer goods producer is a big customer of many SUP products, which company is marketing its products in Bangladesh and globally in plastic packaging.

This type of company is not a producer of plastic products, but Unilever is the customer for packaging its products as single-use plastic packets or bottles.

Shamima Akhter, director of Corporate Affairs of Unilever, told UNB that publishing a phase-out list of plastic products is appreciated.

She, however, emphasised inclusive dialogue with stockholders for awareness and priorities of products for implementing the phase-out plan.

Shamima said that Unilever is marketing with 1.3 million shop owners in Bangladesh for a large number of products that have been packaged in plastic products for as long as considering good quality ensuring products in plastic packaging.

"If an alternative packaging system is developed at a reasonable rate, Unilever will use that, until the invention alternative, it is essential plastic packaging," she pointed out.

She also emphasised more research on it and focuses on recycling single-use plastic products considering its no alternative.