Home ›› 01 Nov 2022 ›› Back
The air and plastic pollutions have adversely affected the environment, hazarded the citizens’ health and drastically hampered the overall economy of the country, said speakers at a dialogue.
The dialogue, “Greening Cities through Reducing Air and Plastic Pollution”, was organised by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at BRAC Centre Inn at Mohakhali in the capital on Monday.
“The negative impact of the air pollution on the dwellers of Dhaka city is beyond imagination. The city dwellers are losing more than 8 years of life expectancy on average as per the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) study,” informed CPD research fellow Syed Yusuf Saadat while presenting the keynote at the dialogue.
Citing a World Bank data that the poor air quality costs annually $1.44 billion in Dhaka, and about $6.52 billion across the country, he said, “In Bangladesh, plastic pollution is severely affecting the tourism and aquaculture and fisheries industries, inflicting substantial economic costs for the sectors.”
He said every year around 6,646 tonnes waste is generated in Dhaka, of which 646 tonnes is plastic waste. The estimated clean-up cost of plastic waste in 2020 was $38 million which was 30% of the total revised budget for the environment, forest, and climate change ministry in that year.
He said unclean air triggers various diseases which increase the healthcare cost for individuals and each person had to spend Tk 8,334 per year on healthcare in 2019.
The CPD fellow suggested that the government should invest in renewable energy and green technology to a reduce air pollution, mitigate climate change issues and promote economic growth.
He also recommended reduction in import duty of hybrid cars to encourage its use and make more affordable.
