Brick production is a very large and traditional industry in many parts of Asia. The brick sector in Bangladesh, although unorganized, is tremendous in size. Now, it is an established fact that small scale industries are one of the major contributors to atmospheric pollution in environment. Among small scale industries, the brick kiln industry is a booming industry as the demand for bricks is increasing almost universally due to fast economic growth, urbanization and prosperity.

The raw materials used for brick productions are soil clay or sediments from river, which are rich in fine particles. Most of the brick kilns use plants or trees which contain high level of sulphur and high ash content to pollute the environment.

Production of bricks results in environmental degradation due to emission of significant quantities of gaseous and particulate pollutants. All the brick kiln operations right from digging of earth to unloading of fired bricks from the kiln are accompanied by generation of dust which leaves the whole nearby and workplace dusty . Over the years, landfills created on the river have narrowed its width at many places near the city. The encroaches have set up platform like structures on the rivers and gradually filled out the bottoms by piling up earth and rubbish. Even multi-storied structures have been built on encroached land. Politically backed influential land encroachers have created illegal structures including houses, bazaars, ghats (port), brickfields etc., on the river that has created obstacles on the flow of the river.

Images Taken on June 06, 2018 from the Buriganga River, Dhaka