Role of Laws to Control Brick Manufacturing and Kiln Establishment in Bangladesh: Scope of Alternative Bricks

Abstract

In Bangladesh, clay bricks are extensively used as building construction material. Rapid urbanization in the country has spurred the brick production of 8.6 billion each year. The larger part of brick fields has been set up illicitly, near human homes, schools, colleges, medicinal services offices, disregarding the current laws in this regard. Top soil of agricultural land is collected for producing bricks. As a result, our country is losing hectares of precious topsoil each year. In Bangladesh, around 12,000 brick kilns are in operation. A kiln produces averagely 8,500 bricks using 1,000 cubic feet of topsoil. Tons of forest wood is burned to produce bricks every year. Brick kilns emissions consist of carbon-dioxide (CO₂), particulate matter (PM) including black carbon (BC), sulfur-dioxide (SO₂), oxides of nitrogen (NO_x), and carbon monoxide (CO), thereby causing air pollution. Brick kilns around Dhaka are responsible for up to 58 percent of all the fine-particulate air pollution in the capital.

The qualitative research approach was followed in order to explore the scope of Alternative Bricks (ABs) and also the role of law to control brick manufacturing and kiln establishment in Bangladesh. This study indicates that the law enforcement mechanism is not functioning properly as well as there are lots of loopholes in the existing laws to prevent the production of harmful clay bricks and promote Alternative Bricks (ABs).

Keywords

Alternative bricks, brick kiln, clay bricks, law.

References

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