Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun underscored the need for recycling the plastic wastes to reduce its adverse impacts on environment.
“The use of plastic products is increasing day by day. Plastic wastes are also increasing which is harmful to our environment. We’ll have to put emphasis on recycling such wastes,” he said.
The minister said this while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of the four-day ’15th International Plastic Fair 2023′ held at Bashundhara International Convention Center (BICC) in the capital, said a press release.
State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam (Titu) and Commerce Ministry Additional Secretary Md Monsurul Alam attended the function as special guests while President of the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) Shamim Ahmed presided over the function.
Mentioning that the use of plastic items in daily life is very significant, Humayun said plastic is being used in almost every item like toothbrush to cover of life saving drug.
“The plastic industry in Bangladesh has been playing an important role as a linkage industry. It is contributing towards earning of foreign currency and economic growth,” he added.
The Industries Minister called upon the industrialists and businessmen of this sector to invent newer products and thus marketing those through products diversification to keep pace with the changing market demand.
In his speech, Titu called upon businessmen of the plastic sector to produce products combining jute and plastic using modern technology.
Plastic is a polymeric material that is, a material whose molecules are very large, often resembling long chains made up of a seemingly endless series of interconnected links. Natural polymers such as rubber and silk exist in abundance, but nature’s “plastics” have not been implicated in environmental pollution, because they do not persist in the environment.
However, the average consumer comes into daily contact with all kinds of plastic materials that have been developed specifically to defeat natural decay processes—materials derived mainly from petroleum that can be molded, cast, spun, or applied as a coating. Since synthetic plastics are largely nonbiodegradable, they tend to persist in natural environments. Moreover, many lightweight single-use plastic products and packaging materials, which account for approximately 50 percent of all plastics produced, are not deposited in containers for subsequent removal to landfills, recycling centres, or incinerators.
Instead, they are improperly disposed of at or near the location where they end their usefulness to the consumer. Dropped on the ground, thrown out of a car window, heaped onto an already full trash bin, or inadvertently carried off by a gust of wind, they immediately begin to pollute the environment. Indeed, landscapes littered by plastic packaging have become common in many parts of the world. (Illegal dumping of plastic and overflowing of containment structures also play a role.) Studies from around the world have not shown any particular country or demographic group to be most responsible, though population centres generate the most litter. The causes and effects of plastic pollution are truly worldwide.
