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. Larger part of brick fields have 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), sulphur-dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), 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.
 Unabated growth and running of brick kilns reveals the fact that the law enforcement mechanism is not functioning properly. Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI), has come up with various alternatives of bricks, rarely used in any private or public buildings. This study concentrates on the roles of existing laws to control brick manufacturing and kiln establishment in Bangladesh and also scope of Alternative Bricks (ABs) in Bangladesh.