Polybags rule despite ban

Polythene bags, banned with much fanfare over nine years ago, are making their way back to the market for lack of monitoring and suitable alternatives.

Paper and net bags hit the market as alternatives after the ban, but traders still prefer plastic bags to the webbed and wafer-thin ones.

They argue that paper bags tear easily and net bags are inconvenient to carry goods in rainy weather.
Grocer Mazharul Islam in the capital's Malibagh area said many customers ask for plastic bags to carry groceries.
“It is cheap, user-friendly and easily available. You can order a hundred kilogram of polythene in the morning and get it by evening,” said Mohammad Al Amin, another grocer at Karwan Bazar.

The government imposed a nationwide ban on polythene bags (below 100 microns) in 2002 after thousands of discarded bags clogged up the drainage system in urban areas.

Plastic bags choked the drainage system adding to thesufferings of people during the 1988 and 1998 floods, pointed out environmental groups.
Chemical experts say the apparently harmless polythene is unsafe to manufacture and takes centuries to decompose.

The substances emitted during its production can cause cancer to factory workers and also damage their kidneys, nervous and immune systems.

When these bags are burnt for recycling, they release into the air poisonous chemicals including dioxin, one of the most toxic substances.
The Daily Star found some polythene factories operating in the capital's Chawkbazar, Begumbazar and Karwan Bazar areas, with a few offering free samples to lure customers.

Many makeshift factories are still producing huge amounts of plastic bags, ignoring the risks of facing a fine up to Tk 10 lakh and jail sentence up to 10 years.
Seeking anonymity, a polythene trader in Karwan Bazar said he was aware that his business was illegal.

“But there is demand for these bags in the market, and we just give the customers what they want,” he said.
A kilogram of polythene bags is sold at Tk 140 at a profit of Tk 10 to 15. The business is run clandestinely, as it is illegal, said the trader.

Several traders at Karwan Bazar said they have not seen any drive against polythene bags for quite some time.

However, the Department of Environment (DoE) said it has fined 492 stores and factories about Tk 36 lakh in Dhaka from January 2010 to date.
Eleven people have been jailed either for producing or storing polythene. About 64 tonnes of plastic bags were seized too.

“During drives, we usually find customers using polythene bags and give them paper bags as an alternative,” said Sukumar Biswas, director (Dhaka division) of the DoE.

Very few of them were penalised Tk 500 each for defying the ban, he added.
M Mahboob Hossain, an associate professor of microbiology at BRAC University, said it seems only a few people are aware of the demerits of using polythene bags.