Who will see the issue of protecting the environment?

Paikgacha Hat-Bazar of Sailab Satkhira in Polythene. All that polythene is being used and dumped in Shivsa and Kapotaksha rivers. Polyethylene is being produced and marketed in different regions of the country. Polythene is spreading in different cities and villages.

The government banned the use of polythene in 2002 to protect the environment. Production, import, marketing, sale and storage of polythene bags is also a punishable offense under the Environment Protection Act. Anyone who violates this law can be jailed and fined. But the law is only on paper.

The government has requested to stop the use of polythene in all the government offices of the district including the District Commissioner’s office.

This request was conveyed to the DCs in a letter from Environment Pollution Control Division-1 of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. But banned polythene is being used under the nose of the administration. But they have no strong initiative to stop it.

The sooner we stop using plastic, the better. Because polythene has become the poison of the nation. Even knowing it is harmful, it cannot be avoided due to the necessity of life. According to scientists, long-term consumption of food kept in plastic containers has a high risk of life-threatening diseases like cancer. Its waste after use is even worse. The soil does not absorb it as it does not decompose.

So he is continuously polluting the environment and making the locality uninhabitable. This waste has become a threat. From 1950 to 2018, around 6.3 billion tons of plastic-polyethylene has been produced around the world. Only 9 percent of which can be recycled. Everything else is left as waste. About 700 species of marine animals are threatened. But still you are not going to turn away from it. Now steel pipes are not suitable for installing tube wells. However, not everyone can afford to buy. There is absolute dominance of plastic pipes. Overhead tank, that too is plastic. Like jugs, medicine bottles, tiffin boxes, plates, pyres, plastic has free reign in all areas. And in the tax-free reign of shopping bags, everyone is a victim of helplessness. Legislated, but not preventable.

Perhaps plastic-polythene cannot be eradicated as it is inextricably linked with life.

Light/s