Jute is one of the major crops that grow in abundance in our land. The fibre obtained from jute is a useful material which is used in making a number of things such as sacks, coarse cloth, carpets, curtains, chair coverings, area rugs, hessian cloth, backing for linoleum etc. But it is really a piece of good news that lately a scientist in Bangladesh has invented a kind of bag from this golden fiver namely ‘Sonali Bag’ which is not only eco-friendly but also affordable. Scientists have conducted researches for long to invent an effective alternative to the harmful polythene but to no avail. The new jute-made bag, which is as handy as polybag, is supposed to have a huge potential for successfully ending the use polythene in the country and save our environment.
The use of poly bags for carrying vegetable, meat and fish has now become common in public life while the polythene is also being used for packaging different items including food and readymade garments. Fortunately, Dr. Mubarak Ahmad Khan, scientific advisor to Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), also former Chief Scientific Officer and Director General of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, has invented the ‘sonali bag’. He has successfully developed the low-cost biodegradable sheet from modified jute cellulose. Mechanical properties of the developed sheet are higher than polyethylene sheet and physical properties are quite similar. The product shows complete biodegradability within 4-6 months of soil burial and it will be degraded in water by around eight hours. The chemical composition of jute fiber includes 65.2 percent cellulose, 22.2 percent hemi-cellulose, 12.5 percent lignin, 1.5 percent water soluble matter, 0.6 percent fat and wax.
Dr. Mubarak Ahmad Khan, who is currently working in several promising areas of nanotechnology, material science, biodegradable polymers, biomedical science, applied science etc., principally aims at developing sustainable technologies that are not harmful for the environment and human health. It is mentionable that Dr. Mubarak is also the inventor of Jutin (Jute Reinforced Polymer Corrugated Sheet), the outstanding housing material from jute plastic composite. The scientist has received several national and international awards for his remarkable contributions to scientific community.
BJMC, a part of Bangladesh ministry of Textiles and Jute, is going to produce the jute-made poly bag, which is hoped to substitute the polythene used in the country. “Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina named this jute bag ‘Sonali Bag’, which is biodegradable and environment-friendly. We will make it available in the market soon,” Md. Mahmudul Hassan, chairman of the BJMC told this correspondent. BJMC is now producing the jute-made poly-bags as pilot project at Latif Bawany Jute Mills in Demra of Dhaka. They are also establishing a factory at Kayetpara in the Demra area for commercially producing the ‘sonali bag’.
To talk about polythene bags, they are handy and affordable which have widely been used in the market of our country for packaging products for years. However, these bags are very harmful for the environment and human health. The chemical used in polythene and tissue bags can pollute air, plants and water. Polythene decreases the fertility of farmland and affects the biodiversity in many ways. Not only that, polythene bag is not degradable; it takes at least 400 years to decompose in earth. These bags are also clogging the drainage system and creating water logging in the capital and other places in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh government banned the production, marketing, sales, display, storing, distribution, transportation and use of polythene of less than 55-micron thickness for business purposes in 2002. On the other hand, in 2010 it enacted a law – ‘Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010’ – to ensure compulsory use of jute in packaging products and to discourage use of polythene bags. Besides, some researchers conducted research with a view to developing biodegradable packaging from various raw materials. However, the products that came in the markets are not cost-effective compared to conventional polythene packaging. That is why, despite the ban the use of polythene bags did not stop.
Of late, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) has taken initiatives to develop protocols and to commercialize the produced jute based biodegradable packaging including jute made poly bag. According to the experts and market analysts, the jute-made ‘sonali bag’ can put an end to the usage of harmful polythene bag, encourage environment-friendly packaging, reduce dependence on import of biodegradable bag and polythene bag and can generate huge remittance if exported. The food packaging and beverage packaging market is expected to play a crucial role in driving the overall global biodegradable packaging market. Meanwhile it is hoped that farmers can now earn a huge amount of money by selling jute crops if the jute made poly-bag is produced in large scale and marketed in the country and exported abroad.
Source:
http://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/284524/Sonali-Bags:-An-EcoFriendly-Alternative
