The Economics of Deposit-Refund Systems: Exploring the Market-Based Environmental Policies to Sustain the Ecological Balance of Dhaka City

Abstract

Bangladesh was not familiar with the uses of plastics as containers a few decades ago. However, in recent years, particularly its large cities like Dhaka have experienced a widespread and growing use of plastic products that posits the threat to pollute the environment as well as creates health hazards and hinders sustainable development. Furthermore, the unscrupulous traders who refill thousands of empty plastic bottles with unclean tap water make the situation worse.  The country needs some adequate steps to restore and sustain the ecological balance and before taking any initiative it is imperative to explore the measures that the developed countries have employed to manage their plastic bottle disposals effectively. The Container-deposit legislation (CDL) is a widely used initiative that entails a series of financial refund on smooth-drink, juice, milk, water, alcohol-beverage, and other reusable packaging at the point of sale. When the bottle or container is returned to an authorized redemption center, or to the unique vendor in a few jurisdictions, the deposit is partly or fully refunded to the redeemer, presumed to be the unique purchaser. The study explores different schemes that the North American countries, European and the Scandinavian Nations have adopted, identifies the problems they faced, analyzes the present condition of Dhaka city and attempts to explain how and why the legislation need to be implemented in Bangladesh.