In Bangladesh, clay bricks are extensively used as building construction material. Rapid urbanization in the country has spurred the brick production of 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. | VNU Journal of Science: Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vol. 35, No. 1 (2019) 112-124 Original article Role of Laws to Control Brick Manufacturing and Kiln Establishment in Bangladesh: Scope of Alternative Bricks Md. Akhter Hossain Sarker1, Asif Hossain Abir2,* 1 2 Senior Research Officer, Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) Research Associate, Promoting Sustainable Building in Bangladesh Project, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) Received 11 March 2019 Revised 15 March 2019; Accepted 15 March 2019 Abstract: In Bangladesh, clay bricks are extensively used as building construction material. Rapid urbanization in the country has spurred the brick production of 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. Qualitative research approach was followed in order to explore the scope of Alternative Bricks (ABs) and also 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: .
