Most cities, including the capital, as well as rural and forest areas, have been facing serious levels of air pollution and loss of topsoil from agricultural land for decades because of conventional brick kilns.
The number of such hazardous brickfields is so numerous and their owners are so influential and nonchalant that stricter laws and enforcement drives together with media campaigns have failed to promote brick-making methods that are cleaner and cheaper.
While these harmful kilns continue to burn coal, firewood and even rubber to make bricks day and night under the nose of the authorities around localities across the country, with several thousand operating around the densely-populated Dhaka city, it gives an impression in the public mind that there is no issue of concern.
These brick kilns, which follow the conventional Fixed Chimney Kiln (FCK) method, are posing a serious threat to public health and agricultural production.
The damage is increasing with rapid urbanization, as bricks are an essential component of construction
Neglected options
According to government data, the authorities have started promoting energy-efficient brick-making technologies like the Improved Fixed Chimney Kiln (IFCK), Improved Zigzag Kiln (IZigzag), the Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln (VSBK), and the Hybrid Hoffmann Kiln (HHK), which are substantially cleaner, consuming less energy and emitting lower levels of pollutants and greenhouse gases.
The Department of Environment (DoE) has been promoting several energy-efficient and cleaner methods over the last 13 years, but there has not been significant progress. In the meantime, the High Court has given directives many times to take effective measures to cut air pollution and shut down the hazardous brick kilns.
In 2010, the DoE authorities threatened not to renew licenses of kilns after 2012 if the owners did not adopt cleaner methods. The DoE had also demonstrated the viability of alternative building materials, like concrete blocks, but the owners have not complied.
If implemented widely, the initiatives could help produce 10 times more bricks from a single plant than what they are making conventionally, cut air pollution significantly, and thus reduce health hazards and loss of agricultural production.
For the last few years, the Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) has been doing the tough job of promoting alternative building materials, including concrete blocks, for walls, floors and roofing.
Other alternative materials include thermal blocks, compressed stabilized earth blocks, and sand-cement hollow blocks.
The production of cement blocks contributes nothing harmful to the environment. They are made of mud or silt, collected after the dredging of rivers, and cement that is later dried in the sun. These bricks are long-lasting and also earthquake resistant.
The cost of these “green bricks” is also much lower than conventional red bricks, potentially reducing construction costs by 20-30%.
Another benefit of making concrete block bricks is that the machines can be transported easily to the place where the mud is gathered.
Green bricks gaining popularity
Now the country has over 50 large and medium industries making concrete blocks of different kinds, focusing on city areas, while the number of machine suppliers is only three.
Due to the low price of the machines, many young entrepreneurs are engaging in this business in Dhaka and other districts, but more needs to be done for the sake of the environment and to compete with conventional kilns.
There are around 8,000 listed brick kilns in the country, around 60% of which are operating without environmental clearance, according to a statement from Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Shahab Uddin, given in Parliament in January this year.
However, activists say the actual number of conventional brick kilns is not less than 11,000.