Tossing Waste and Littering Public Places of Bangladesh: A Violation of the Constitution and A Breach of Public Duty

Abstract

Good health is a blessing from the Almighty, but to stay healthy, we need a clean, pollution-free environment. It is a constitutional obligation, social and moral responsibility of the citizens to maintain discipline, execute public responsibilities, and safeguard public property, but our people have failed to do so. The level of environmental pollution in our country is easily understandable since Bangladesh is number one on the list of the most polluted countries in the world and Dhaka on the list of the most polluted cities. The citizens are the first to be blamed for these environmental contaminations as they throw wastes anywhere, and secondly, the concerned authorities, for not punishing such litterers. Our people are already deeply infected with the terrible habit of throwing waste everywhere, and the next generation is heading the same way, significantly destroying the environment. Our country was lacking precise and effective legislation to sanction litterers who throw waste in public places. The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act (BECA) 1995 and the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009 both contain single provision each prohibiting people from littering, but last year, the government, by enacting the Solid Waste Management Rules 2021 under the BECA 1995, made both individual and industries liable for littering which contains a lot of littering aspects clearly. People are ignorant and disrespectful towards the laws because there is no rule of law in our country. Laws are nothing without implementation, and that is what we need to be focused on. The main goal of this study is to determine the efficacy of existing legal frameworks of our country regarding littering public places by throwing waste and to find possible solutions to stop individuals from doing so by strict implementations of rule of law.