Bangladesh brick industry tries to clean up its act
Across Bangladesh, clay-fired kilns for brick making send filth into the air, spew toxic gasses and use up topsoil that could be producing food. To clean the air and meet environmental goals, the government has been closing the polluting kilns, but the adoption of cleaner alternatives is badly lagging, industry insiders say.
Cleaner alternatives include automated, energy-efficient brick-making technology or the production of concrete blocks, increasingly being adopted by other Asian countries like China and Vietnam. The government environment agency in Bangladesh has shut more than 600 kilns, while 3,500 of the country's 8,000 kilns are designated for closure, according to official figures.
The shutdowns began with kilns that lacked proper documents to operate. Many were set up near villages, schools or forests in violation of government rules, said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the country's environment adviser.
'This is about switching to alternative materials that other countries have already adopted,' Hasan said. Manufacturing clay bricks mostly runs on burning coal, generating greenhouse gases and particulate matter that harm human health, and uses topsoil that is critically needed for growing crops in the densely populated country.
Over the last 15 years, Bangladesh has attempted to move to cleaner alternatives such as less-polluting kilns, but the effort is held up by cost considerations. With government encouragement, brick kiln owners converted many long-necked fixed-chimney kilns to zigzag kilns that make better use of energy and emit fewer toxic gases.
Development organizations have been pushing for more energy-efficient technologies as well such as hybrid Hoffman kilns (HHK), which capture and use their own waste heat to halve energy usage.
The large initial investment costs of $2 million for each HHK kiln, however, is about 15 times the cost of making a zigzag kiln, slowing their large-scale adoption, according to the World Bank.
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Al Jazeera
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Qatar Tribune
2 days ago
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Bangladesh brick industry tries to clean up its act
Agencies Across Bangladesh, clay-fired kilns for brick making send filth into the air, spew toxic gasses and use up topsoil that could be producing food. To clean the air and meet environmental goals, the government has been closing the polluting kilns, but the adoption of cleaner alternatives is badly lagging, industry insiders say. Cleaner alternatives include automated, energy-efficient brick-making technology or the production of concrete blocks, increasingly being adopted by other Asian countries like China and Vietnam. The government environment agency in Bangladesh has shut more than 600 kilns, while 3,500 of the country's 8,000 kilns are designated for closure, according to official figures. The shutdowns began with kilns that lacked proper documents to operate. Many were set up near villages, schools or forests in violation of government rules, said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the country's environment adviser. 'This is about switching to alternative materials that other countries have already adopted,' Hasan said. Manufacturing clay bricks mostly runs on burning coal, generating greenhouse gases and particulate matter that harm human health, and uses topsoil that is critically needed for growing crops in the densely populated country. Over the last 15 years, Bangladesh has attempted to move to cleaner alternatives such as less-polluting kilns, but the effort is held up by cost considerations. With government encouragement, brick kiln owners converted many long-necked fixed-chimney kilns to zigzag kilns that make better use of energy and emit fewer toxic gases. Development organizations have been pushing for more energy-efficient technologies as well such as hybrid Hoffman kilns (HHK), which capture and use their own waste heat to halve energy usage. The large initial investment costs of $2 million for each HHK kiln, however, is about 15 times the cost of making a zigzag kiln, slowing their large-scale adoption, according to the World Bank.
Qatar Tribune
2 days ago
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