Waste Management Law in Bangladesh: Waste Rules, Wildlife, Forests and Natural Resources in 2026

Waste management law Bangladesh: the 2026 framework

Waste management law Bangladesh businesses must follow is no longer a single polythene ban and a few lines in the Environment Conservation Act. In 2026 it is a dense set of rules for municipal solid waste, hazardous and ship-breaking waste, electronic waste and medical waste, a gazetted extended producer responsibility regime for plastics, and a parallel body of natural resource law that now includes a new wildlife statute, a new tree conservation law, the Biodiversity Act 2017, sand and soil controls and groundwater licensing. Manufacturers, hospitals, importers, developers and project lenders meet several of these regimes at once.

This guide brings the land, water and waste strands together. It explains what each instrument requires, who enforces it, the penalties that apply and where the 2025 and 2026 reforms have changed the position. It deliberately does not repeat TRW's existing analysis of clearance, Department of Environment enforcement and litigation; instead it links to those guides where they go deeper, and concentrates on the sector rules and resource statutes that those guides only touch.

Summary: Waste and natural resource regulation in Bangladesh rests on rules made under the Environment Conservation Act 1995, covering solid, hazardous, ship-breaking, electronic and medical waste and plastics, together with separate statutes for wildlife, forests, biodiversity, minerals, sand and soil, and water. The 2026 changes that matter most are the plastic EPR guidelines, the wildlife law passed by parliament in April 2026 and the tree conservation law issued in January 2026.

Key point: Breach of the polythene ban, the hazardous waste rules or the ship-breaking duty carries up to two years' imprisonment, a fine of up to Tk 2 lakh, or both for a first offence, and two to ten years with a fine of Tk 2 lakh to Tk 10 lakh for repeat offences, under the section 15 penalty table of the Environment Conservation Act 1995.

At a glance

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Table of Contents

Waste management law Bangladesh: the 2026 framework

The framework has three layers. The first is the Environment Conservation Act 1995, which gives the government power to regulate hazardous waste by rules under section 6C, imposes a direct anti-pollution duty on ship-breaking yards under section 6D, and allows polythene products to be banned by notification under section 6A.[1] The second layer is the set of sector rules made under that Act for solid, hazardous, electronic and medical waste. The third is a group of resource statutes, administered largely outside the Department of Environment, covering wildlife, forests, biodiversity, minerals, sand and water.

For a business, the practical point is that compliance with waste management law Bangladesh regulators enforce is cumulative. A factory may hold a valid environmental clearance and still breach the e-waste rules; a hospital may be licensed by the health authorities and still breach the medical waste rules; a developer may own land and still need a sand extraction permission, a tree-felling approval and a groundwater licence.

How this guide fits with TRW's environmental series

The structure of the 1995 Act, its penalty table and the Department of Environment's powers are analysed in our guide to the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act. Clearance categories and the Environment Conservation Rules 2023 are covered in our overview of environmental law in Bangladesh, and day-to-day plant obligations in our guide to environmental compliance in Bangladesh. Complaints, writs and environment courts sit in our guide to environmental litigation in Bangladesh, and climate finance in climate change law in Bangladesh. This article covers what those guides leave out.

The Solid Waste Management Rules 2021

The Solid Waste Management Rules 2021 were made under the Environment Conservation Act 1995 and enacted on 23 December 2021.[2] They are the baseline of waste management law Bangladesh municipalities apply: the general rulebook for non-hazardous municipal, commercial and household waste, and they sit behind every city corporation and municipality waste programme.

Segregation and the 3R hierarchy

The Rules make source segregation mandatory, require household waste to be separated into degradable and non-degradable streams, and adopt the reduce, reuse and recycle hierarchy as the organising principle.[2] They also introduced extended producer responsibility into Bangladeshi waste regulation for the first time, which the 2026 plastic guidelines now put into operation.[2]

Who carries the duty

The Rules allocate duties to citizens and waste generators on one side and to municipal authorities on the other.[2] For commercial generators such as shopping centres, offices, hotels, housing societies and markets, the practical obligations are to segregate at source, hand waste only to the authorised collector, and keep any recyclable or hazardous fraction out of the general stream. Mixing hazardous or clinical waste into municipal waste is where most legal exposure arises, because it moves the generator from the general rules into the hazardous waste offences discussed below.

The implementation gap in 2026

Four years on, the Rules remain largely unimplemented. Experts reported in April 2026 that city corporations and municipalities had not applied them, while officials pointed to training programmes for staff and residents.[2] The scale of the problem is significant: an estimated 47,000 tonnes of waste were generated daily in 2025, city corporations collected 58 per cent of waste in 2022, and only 7.14 per cent of waste was brought under the 3R approach that year.[2] Weak municipal enforcement does not remove a generator's own duties, and it often increases the risk that a private operator is singled out when a drive begins.

Hazardous waste and the ship-breaking waste rules

Hazardous waste is among the most heavily penalised streams in waste management law Bangladesh has in force. Section 6C of the 1995 Act allows the government, by rules, to regulate the production, processing, holding, storage, transport, import, export and disposal of hazardous waste, and section 6D requires every owner, importer and yard user involved in ship breaking to ensure that the work causes no environmental pollution or health risk from hazardous waste.[1]

The 2011 rules and the High Court's directions

The Hazardous Waste and Ship Breaking Waste Management Rules 2011 were notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forest on 28 November 2011, sixteen days after a separate Ministry of Industries rule on ship breaking was gazetted.[3] Both followed High Court directions in 2010 that no ship should enter Bangladesh without a certificate from the exporting country confirming it had been pre-cleaned of hazardous waste. The environment ministry's rules provide that ships imported without pre-cleaning shall not be allowed to be broken, an approach critics said shifted control from import to the breaking stage.[3]

Generators, transporters and disposal

For industrial generators outside ship recycling, good practice under the rules is that hazardous waste such as sludge, spent chemicals, contaminated packaging and treatment residues is identified, stored safely on site, moved only through authorised channels and disposed of in an approved facility. Every stage should be documented. Sludge from effluent treatment plants is the stream most often mishandled, and the plant-level duties are set out in our guide to environmental compliance in Bangladesh.

Penalties

Breach of rules made under section 6C, and breach of the section 6D ship-breaking duty, each carry up to two years' imprisonment, a fine of up to Tk 2 lakh, or both for a first offence, and two to ten years' imprisonment with a fine of Tk 2 lakh to Tk 10 lakh, or both, for each later offence.[1] Corporate and director liability then follows the general rules of the Act. Ship recyclers in Chattogram must also satisfy the dedicated ship recycling legislation and the yard standards that buyers and flag states increasingly demand.

E-waste: the Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules 2021

The Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules 2021 were published by the Department of Environment on 10 June 2021 under the 1995 Act and took effect immediately.[4] They are the most detailed producer-facing regime in waste management law Bangladesh has adopted, and they apply across the life cycle of electrical and electronic products.

Who must register

Registration with the Department of Environment applies to manufacturers, assemblers, import centres, recyclers, transporters, repairers, dismantlers, importers, traders, shopkeepers, auctioneers and exporters. Registered manufacturers, dismantlers and recyclers must also hold environmental clearance.[4] Importers of phones, appliances, computers and lighting often overlook this registration because they do not see themselves as waste businesses.

Collection targets

Manufacturers, assemblers and large importers must meet rising collection targets for waste electrical and electronic equipment: 10 per cent in year one, 20 per cent in year two, 30 per cent in year three, 40 per cent in year four and 50 per cent from year five onwards.[4] In practice this requires a take-back channel, contracts with registered recyclers and records that can prove the tonnage collected.

Substances, storage and reporting

The Rules restrict ten hazardous substances on the model of the European RoHS list, with limits of 0.01 per cent for cadmium and 0.1 per cent for the others. E-waste must be stored in an environmentally sound manner with fire suppression, for a proposed period of 180 days extendable by up to 90 days, and exports need Department of Environment permission. Covered entities must keep records and file annual reports.[4]

Penalties and enforcement

Breach is punished under section 15 of the 1995 Act: up to two years, a fine of up to Tk 2 lakh, or both for a first violation, and two to ten years with a fine of Tk 2 lakh to Tk 10 lakh for repeat violations.[4] Enforcement has lagged, but importers that sell through large retailers or tender to government buyers increasingly face registration checks in procurement, so the cost of non-registration is often commercial before it is criminal.

Medical waste: the 2008 Rules

Medical waste is the most technical stream that waste management law Bangladesh hospitals must handle, and it is governed by the Medical Waste (Management and Processing) Rules 2008. They require segregation at the point of generation, before storage, transport, treatment or disposal; prohibit storing untreated medical waste for more than 48 hours; require medical waste to be kept separate from general waste throughout collection and transport; and require management and processing records to be retained for at least three years.[5]

Colour coding and licences

Each container should carry a colour code by waste type using WHO-approved symbols, and treatment must follow the conditions set out in the Rules' schedule. Rule 5 provides for three licence types: wrapping and storage, collection and transport, and treatment and onward disposal, with licensing by an authority chaired by the divisional director of health.[5]

Practical risk for hospitals and clinics

Compliance remains weak; one study cited in 2023 found 29 per cent of hospital containers lacked colour tags.[5] For private hospitals, diagnostic centres and pharmaceutical units, the risk is concentrated at the hand-over point. If a contractor is unlicensed, or medical waste is found in municipal bins, the generator is the obvious defendant. Contracts with waste handlers should require proof of licence, chain-of-custody records and an indemnity, and the hospital's own records should be ready for inspection.

Plastics: the polythene ban, single-use plastics and EPR

Plastic regulation is where waste management law Bangladesh enforcement is most visible on the street. Section 6A of the 1995 Act allows the government, by gazette notification, to ban the manufacture, import, marketing, sale, storage, distribution, commercial transport or commercial use of polythene shopping bags or other polythene or polypropylene goods, nationwide or in specified areas, with exemptions for goods made for export.[1]

The 2002 ban and the 2024 renewal

Polythene shopping bags were first banned in 2002. The interim government renewed enforcement in supermarkets from 1 October 2024 and in all bazaars and retail outlets from 1 November 2024, covering the production, sale, storage, transport and use of polythene and polypropylene shopping bags.[6] Compliance remains uneven: in January 2026 it was reported that nearly 3,000 factories still produce polythene bags and that around 20 million bags are generated daily in Dhaka alone.[6]

Two penalty tiers

The section 15 table separates producers from sellers. Production, import or marketing of banned products carries up to two years, a fine of up to Tk 2 lakh, or both for a first offence, rising to two to ten years and Tk 2 lakh to Tk 10 lakh for later offences. Sale, display, storage, distribution, commercial transport or commercial use carries up to one year, a fine of up to Tk 50,000, or both.[1] Retailers and logistics providers therefore carry real exposure, not only manufacturers.

Single-use plastics

The government has officially classed 17 items as single-use plastic, including disposable cutlery, Styrofoam food containers, thin plastic packaging, plastic invitation cards and banners, and plastic bottles and caps, and banned harmful single-use plastic at the Secretariat from 2 October 2025.[7] The list matters beyond government offices because single-use plastic not already prohibited is one of the five product groups now subject to producer responsibility.

Extended producer responsibility from August 2026

The EPR guidelines gazetted on 13 August 2026 under section 13 of the 1995 Act apply to manufacturers, importers and brand owners of plastic products, excluding industries producing solely against export orders. Obligated entities must collect at least 15 per cent and recycle 7.5 per cent of their plastic waste in the first two years, rising to 30 and 15 per cent, and must register within six months of being listed by the Department of Environment, beginning with large industries.[8] Registration lasts three years, renewal depends on annual progress reports, and false information can lead to suspension, cancellation and legal action.[8] The product categories and plastic-credit mechanism are explained in our guide to environmental law in Bangladesh.

Wildlife protection: from the 2012 Act to the 2026 statute

Natural resource law is the second half of the land, water and waste picture, and wildlife law has changed most. For more than a decade the governing statute was the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012, which required a licence to hunt, protected listed plants, allowed hunting bans by area or period and classified species by threat level on scientific advice.

The 2012 Act baseline

Under section 36 of the 2012 Act, killing a tiger or elephant without a licence carried two to seven years' imprisonment and a fine of Tk 1 lakh to Tk 10 lakh, rising to up to twelve years and Tk 15 lakh for a repeat offence, and those offences were cognisable and non-bailable. Section 37 punished killing leopards, clouded leopards, crocodiles, dolphins, whales, gharials, sambar deer and hoolock gibbons with up to three years, a fine of up to Tk 3 lakh, or both. Killing other animals was non-cognisable and bailable.[9]

The 2025 ordinance and the 2026 Act

In December 2025 the interim government's advisory council approved the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Ordinance 2025, prepared with some 70 specialists, which replaced the 2012 Act.[9] [10] On 10 April 2026 the elected parliament passed the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Bill 2026, placed by Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo, by voice vote and without amendment, as part of converting interim ordinances into Acts.[11] The ordinance's substance therefore carries forward, though section references should be checked against the gazetted Act.

Offences and penalties under the new law

Hunting a Bengal tiger or Asian elephant carries two to seven years' imprisonment and a fine of Tk 1 lakh to Tk 10 lakh, and up to twelve years with a fine of up to Tk 15 lakh for a repeat offence. Possessing, transporting or trading tiger or elephant trophies, meat or body parts carries up to three years or a fine of up to Tk 3 lakh, rising to five years and Tk 5 lakh on repetition, and the same scale applies to hunting other listed species such as bears, leopards, deer, pangolins, turtles, pythons and sharks.[10]

Destroying ancient, sacred or heritage trees or traditional groves, unless necessary to save life, carries up to six months or a Tk 50,000 fine, and the same applies to unauthorised filming in safari parks, eco-parks, botanical gardens, breeding centres and special biodiversity areas.[10]

Arrest, bail and the wider species list

The biggest procedural change is bail. Killing any animal in Schedule 1(a) or 1(b) is now cognisable and non-bailable, extending that treatment from tigers and elephants to about 250 further species. Across the schedules, the law protects 1,599 species of plants and animals, including 741 birds, 160 reptiles, 91 sharks and rays and 32 corals.[9] Forest officers and designated police, customs, Coast Guard and Border Guard personnel may arrest without a warrant for cognisable offences, and a Wildlife Crime Control Unit operates at airports, land ports and seaports.[9] [10] Convicted persons may appeal within 30 days.[10]

Protected areas

Bangladesh has 25 wildlife sanctuaries and 19 national parks. The new law requires local communities to be consulted on sanctuary and national park boundaries, bans picnics in sanctuaries and national parks, bans commercial establishments and brick kilns within 2 km of protected areas, and prohibits farming, mining, setting fires and introducing invasive foreign plants inside sanctuaries, with compensation for customary rights.[10] For tourism operators, resort developers and kiln owners near Lawachara, Satchari, Bhawal or the Sundarbans fringe, the 2 km buffer is now the first diligence question.

Forest law: the Forest Act 1927 and the 2026 tree conservation law

The Forest Act 1927 remains the core forest statute. Despite repeated proposals to replace it, our review found no amendment of the 1927 Act in 2025 or 2026; reform has instead come through a separate tree conservation law that sits alongside it.

Reserved, village and protected forests

The Act is organised around reserved forests in Chapter II, village forests and social forestry in Chapter III and protected forests in Chapter IV, with further chapters on control of private forest land, transit of timber and forest produce, penalties and procedure, and forest officers.[12] Classification decides what is lawful: in a reserved forest almost every use requires permission, whereas in a protected forest specified acts are prohibited.

Forest offences and penalties

Basic reserved-forest offences such as trespass, pasturing cattle and carrying fire carry up to six months and a fine of up to Tk 2,000. Serious offences under section 26(1A), including unauthorised clearing, removing timber, setting fire and felling trees, carry six months to five years' imprisonment and a fine of Tk 5,000 to Tk 50,000, plus compensation; section 33(1A) applies the same scale to protected forests.[12] Breach of transit rules carries two months to three years under section 42, altering forest boundary marks carries two to seven years under section 63, and section 63A makes the serious offences non-bailable.[12]

The Forest and Tree Conservation law of 2026

The Forest and Tree Conservation Ordinance 2026 was gazetted in early January 2026.[13] It bans cutting trees listed as prohibited or endangered, requires a tree conservation officer's prior approval to fell trees in the permission-required category, including privately owned trees, and requires a written decision within 30 days and compensatory planting of the same species and number.[13] Fines reach Tk 1 lakh for cutting prohibited trees, Tk 50,000 for breaching felling permissions and Tk 20,000 for other damage, and responsible directors or officers of an offending organisation may be fined up to Tk 3 lakh.[13]

The law also requires all gazette-declared forest land to be recorded in the Forest Department's name regardless of tree cover, and allows exchange of forest land under one acre inside industrial or institutional premises only with the prime minister's approval and the surrender of twice the area as reserved forest.[13] For developers and acquirers, the land-record rule is significant: a plot that appears private in older records may now be claimed as forest land. Our guide to land law in Bangladesh explains how such record conflicts are resolved.

The Bangladesh Biodiversity Act 2017

The Bangladesh Biodiversity Act 2017 (Act No. 2 of 2017) regulates access to biological resources and traditional knowledge and the sharing of benefits from their use.[14] It matters most to pharmaceutical, cosmetics, agri-biotech and research organisations, and to any foreign party collecting specimens or data.

Prior approval for foreign access and IP rights

Under section 4, a non-resident Bangladeshi, a foreign national or an entity not registered in Bangladesh needs the prior approval of the National Biodiversity Committee before collecting or acquiring biological resources or traditional knowledge, or using them for commercial use, bio-survey, bio-prospecting or research. Under section 6, any person needs prior approval before applying, in Bangladesh or abroad, for intellectual property rights based on Bangladeshi biological resources, and approval may carry benefit-sharing fees or royalties. The Committee must decide applications within 90 days.[14]

Committees and benefit sharing

The National Biodiversity Committee is chaired by the environment minister, with the Director General of the Department of Environment as member-secretary, and is supported by ministry technical committees and local biodiversity management committees from city corporations down to union level. Under section 30 the Committee fixes the benefit-sharing arrangement before approving an application, including recognition of community ownership and payment where appropriate.[14] Research collaborations and licensing deals involving Bangladeshi genetic material should build this approval into their timetable.

Minerals, sand and soil extraction

The Mines and Mineral Resources Act 1992

Mineral extraction is governed by the Mines and Mineral Resources (Control and Development) Act 1992 (Act No. 39 of 1992), which provides for prospecting licences and mining leases and, under section 4, empowers the government to make rules on their grant and on the conservation and development of mineral resources.[15] Licensing is administered by the Bureau of Mineral Development under the energy ministry. Hard rock, coal, limestone, silica sand and peat projects therefore need a mining-law consent alongside environmental clearance, and the two timetables should be run together.

The Balumahal and Soil Management Act and the 2023 amendment

Riverbed and land sand extraction is regulated by the Balumahal and Soil Management Act 2010, substantially amended by the Sand and Soil Management (Amendment) Act 2023 (Act No. 35 of 2023), which replaced the definition of a balumahal, recast the section 4 prohibition on excavating sand and soil, and rewrote the provisions on leasing and penalties.[16] The law bans extraction within one kilometre of bridges, dams, highways and residential areas and near eroded riverbanks, and violations carry up to two years' imprisonment and fines of up to Tk 10 lakh.[17]

Enforcement against illegal dredging remains a persistent problem, but liability attaches to everyone in the chain: the lessee, the dredger operator and the buyer who takes delivery from an unlicensed site.[17] Construction contractors and real estate developers should require proof that fill material comes from a leased balumahal, because unlawfully sourced sand can become the developer's problem when a project is inspected.

The Water Act overlay

Separately, section 20 of the Water Act 2013 prohibits stopping or diverting the natural flow of a water course, filling a water source or extracting sand or mud from it without the appropriate authority's permission.[19] A sand lease does not override that requirement where the site is in or beside a river, canal or haor.

Water and groundwater management

The Groundwater Management for Agricultural Purposes Act 2018

The Groundwater Management for Agricultural Purposes Act 2018 (Act No. 5 of 2018) provides that no tube well may be installed for agricultural purposes without a licence from the Upazila Parishad. The Upazila Irrigation Committee inspects the site and reports on the water table, distance from other tube wells, the area to be served and existing household wells, and a licence may be granted only if the well benefits agriculture, does not harm the surrounding environment and is practicable, with a right to seek reconsideration of a refusal.[18]

Water stress areas and abstraction controls under the Water Act 2013

The Water Act 2013 lets the government declare a water stress area by gazette on the recommendation of its executive committee and then impose restrictions by protection order. Inside such an area, use follows a statutory priority beginning with drinking water and household use before agriculture, ecosystem balance and industry, and the committee may fix the lowest safe yield level of an aquifer that limits new tube wells.[19] Wilful breach of a protection or compliance order carries up to five years' imprisonment, a fine of up to Tk 10,000, or both.[19]

The power is now being used. A Water-Stressed Area Declaration Order gazetted on 22 January 2026 covers 153 unions in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon for ten years, bars new tube wells except for drinking water, requires groundwater irrigation to end within two years and prohibits new groundwater-dependent industries; enforcement was still reported as weak in October 2026.[20] Industrial investors looking at the Barind tract should treat water availability as a legal constraint, not only an engineering one. River pollution and the Water Act's enforcement route are covered in our environmental litigation guide.

Regulators and institutions

A single project can deal with all of the following bodies, and a consent from one does not bind another.

Inside economic zones and industrial parks, the zone authority's one-stop service handles many applications but does not displace the Department of Environment's waste standards or the Forest Department's jurisdiction. Our analysis of the Invest Bangladesh Act 2026 industrial area framework explains how zone approvals interact with sector consents.

A practical compliance roadmap

The sequence below reflects how TRW approaches waste management law Bangladesh obligations and resource consents for manufacturers, developers, healthcare operators and acquirers.

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Two points apply throughout. Keep one register of every registration, licence and renewal date, owned by a named officer. And keep hand-over records for every waste stream, because when waste turns up where it should not be, the generator's paperwork is usually the only defence. For acquisitions, these items belong in diligence, as explained in our analysis of liabilities when buying an existing factory in Bangladesh.

Waste management law Bangladesh instruments compared

The table summarises the waste and resource instruments most likely to affect a business. On a phone, scroll it sideways.

Common waste management law Bangladesh mistakes to avoid

• Treating clearance as the whole job: an environmental clearance does not replace e-waste registration, EPR registration, a medical waste licence or a tree-felling approval.
• Outsourcing without diligence: using an unlicensed collector or recycler leaves the generator exposed when waste is found in the wrong place.
• Ignoring the retail tier: sellers and transporters of banned polythene face their own penalty under section 15, not only manufacturers.
• Missing the 2 km buffer: commercial establishments and brick kilns are now barred within 2 km of protected areas under the wildlife law.
• Buying unlawful fill: sand from an unleased site or a protected water course can taint a construction project and its contractor.
• Assuming land records are final: the 2026 tree conservation law records declared forest land in the Forest Department's name regardless of tree cover.

What to watch in 2026 and 2027

Four developments will shape waste management law Bangladesh enforcement over the next year. First, the Department of Environment's first EPR listings of large plastic producers will start the six-month registration clock.[8] Second, the gazetted texts of the 2026 wildlife and tree conservation Acts, and any rules made under them, will settle section numbering and procedure. Third, further water-stress declarations beyond the Barind unions are possible.[20] Fourth, pressure is building for city corporations to apply the 2021 solid waste rules in practice.[2]

For any business that generates, imports, handles or disposes of regulated waste, or that builds on land near forests, rivers or protected areas, the earliest decisions carry the most weight. TRW's industrial and manufacturing facilities practice advises on waste compliance and resource consents, and our constitutional and writ litigation practice acts in challenges to closure, seizure and enforcement orders. Contact TRW to discuss your position.

Frequently asked questions

What are the main waste management laws in Bangladesh?

The Environment Conservation Act 1995 and rules made under it: the Solid Waste Management Rules 2021, the Hazardous Waste and Ship Breaking Waste Management Rules 2011, the Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules 2021 and the Medical Waste (Management and Processing) Rules 2008, together with the section 6A polythene ban and the 2026 plastic EPR guidelines.[1] [8]

Is waste segregation mandatory in Bangladesh?

Yes. The Solid Waste Management Rules 2021 make source segregation mandatory and require household waste to be separated into degradable and non-degradable streams, although municipal implementation remains limited.[2]

What is the penalty for selling polythene bags in Bangladesh?

Sale, display, storage, distribution, commercial transport or commercial use of banned polythene carries up to one year's imprisonment, a fine of up to Tk 50,000, or both. Producers and importers face up to two years and Tk 2 lakh for a first offence, and up to ten years and Tk 10 lakh for repeat offences.[1]

Who must register under the e-waste rules?

Manufacturers, assemblers, importers, traders, shopkeepers, repairers, transporters, dismantlers, recyclers, auctioneers and exporters of electrical and electronic products must register with the Department of Environment, and producers and large importers must meet collection targets rising to 50 per cent from year five.[4]

How long can a hospital store untreated medical waste?

No more than 48 hours under the Medical Waste (Management and Processing) Rules 2008, which also require segregation at source, separate handling from general waste and records kept for at least three years.[5]

What do the 2026 EPR guidelines require of plastic producers?

Listed manufacturers, importers and brand owners must register within six months of listing and collect 15 per cent and recycle 7.5 per cent of their plastic waste in the first two years, rising to 30 and 15 per cent, either individually or through a producer responsibility organisation.[8]

Which wildlife law applies in Bangladesh in 2026?

The Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Ordinance 2025 replaced the 2012 Act, and parliament passed it into law as the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Bill 2026 on 10 April 2026, without amendment.[10] [11]

What is the punishment for killing a tiger or elephant?

Two to seven years' imprisonment and a fine of Tk 1 lakh to Tk 10 lakh, and up to twelve years with a fine of up to Tk 15 lakh for a repeat offence. The offence is cognisable and non-bailable.[9] [10]

Do I need permission to cut trees on my own land?

For species in the permission-required category, yes: the Forest and Tree Conservation law of 2026 requires prior approval from a tree conservation officer, who must decide within 30 days. Prohibited or endangered trees may not be cut at all, and exemptions apply to dead, diseased, storm-felled or dangerous trees.[13]

Can sand be extracted near a bridge or river embankment?

No. Sand extraction is banned within one kilometre of bridges, dams, highways and residential areas and near eroded riverbanks, with penalties of up to two years and Tk 10 lakh, and extraction from a water source also needs permission under the Water Act 2013.[17] [19]