Sonali Bag, a jute-made ploy bag which is biodegradable and environment-friendly, will be made available in the market soon to replace polythene bags.
Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporations (BJMC), a wing of the Ministry of Jute and Textiles, is producing Sonali Bag as a substitute for the polythene bag, which is harmful to environment and human health.
“The name Sonali Bag was given by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. We will make it available in the market soon,” BJMC Chairman Md Mahmudul Hassan told the daily sun.
Mentioning that the BJMC is now producing the jute bag at Latif Bawany Jute Mills at Demra in Dhaka under a pilot project, he said they are setting up a factory at Kayetpara in Demra to produce around 15 lakh pieces of Sonali Bags per day by June next year.
Mahmudul Hassan said they will run campaigns to promote the use of Sonali Bags once the factory goes into commercial production.
The government will also encourage private entrepreneurs to produce jute bags to meet huge demand at home and abroad.
Clarifying that they are implementing the Sonali Bag project as part of government’s initiatives to bring back golden time of jute he said the Sonali Bag will be displayed at Dhaka International Trade Fair in the capital from January 1.
Experts said widespread marketing and availability of Sonali Bag will help reduce the use of harmful polythene bags, promote environment-friendly packaging, drastically cut import of biodegradable bags and polythene bags, and even bring huge foreign currency from exports.
“Farmers can make good profits from the sale of jute crops like the past.
Large-scale production of jute bags targeting both the local and international markets will ultimately increase the domestic use of jute and jute-made products,” said a director of the Bangladesh Jute Research Institute.
Experts said 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 of different items including food and export-oriented readymade garment items.
Talking to the daily sun, Rafiqul Islam, a professor at the Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Dhaka University, said: “Poly bags are made of polyethene or polypropylene materials. Those bags are not biodegradable and do not decompose in soil easily and thus affect environment.”
The government in 2002 banned the production, marketing, sales, display, storing, distribution, transportation and use of polythene of less than 55-micron thickness for business purposes.
In 2010, it enacted a law — Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010 — providing for compulsory use of jute in the packaging of several products to discourage use polythene bags.
“Poly bags are harmful not only to human health but also to air. The chemicals used in poly and tissue bags can pollute air, plants and water. Polythene decreases the fertility of farmland and affects the biodiversity in many ways,” said Abu Naser Khan, chairman of Poribesh Banchao Andolon, a non-government environmental organisation.
He said polythene bag which takes at least 400 years to decompose in the soil are also clogging the drainage system and creating waterlogging in the capital and other places in Bangladesh as polythene bag is not degradable.
According to a report, around 20 million of polythene bags are being disposed of only in the capital every day while at least 100 crores polythene bags are under the earth in Dhaka city only.
Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) General Secretary Abdul Matin said the government must ensure availability of eco-friendly substitutes to stop polythene bag using.
According to the environmental experts, the C02 assimilation rate of jute is several times higher than other trees adding that one hectare of jute plants can consume up to 15 tons of carbon dioxide and release 11 tonnes of oxygen during the jute growing season (about 100 days).
Dr Mubarak Ahmad Khan, the BJMC scientific advisor who invented the Sonali Bag from jute, said he started the research activities to produce biodegradable poly bag from jute in 2000 and finally become successful in 2015.
The former Scientific Officer and Director General of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission said the Sonali Bag is completely biodegradable, environment and human health friendly as the poly bag is being produced by jute cellulose and food grade colour also is being used for producing it.
“Sonali Bag is recyclable, reusable and has reselling value. It will be degraded within eight hours after getting in touch with water and will decompose in earth within 4-6 months. Its life can be longer as per demand,” he said.
Mentioning that some jute-made poly bags are being sold in different countries of the world including Japan and the United Kingdom but those are not cost-effective and take a long time for degrading, Mubarak Ahmad said the Sonali Bag can be reproduced by the used jute poly bag.
He said jute is available and high yielding crops in Bangladesh adding that mature cellulose can be collected from jute plant within 120 days only while a tree takes at least 10-15 years to give mature cellulose.
Regarding the pricing of the jute made poly-bag, he said initially it will seem to be higher than existing non-biodegradable polythene bags but actually, Bangladesh can produce the biodegradable bag at lower costs than any other country.
Describing his invention, Mubarak Ahmad Khan, said Jute is a long, soft and shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse and strong threads and the jute fibres are composed primarily of the plant materials cellulose and lignin.
“Chemical composition of Jute Fiber is 65.2 percent cellulose, 22.2 percent hemicellulose, 12.5 percent lignin, 1.5 percent Water Soluble matter and 0.6 percent Fat and Wax,” he said.
“We have developed a low-cost biodegradable sheet from modified jute cellulose. Mechanical properties of the developed sheet are higher than polyethene sheet and physical properties are quite similar,” the scientist said.
A report said the global bioplastics market is estimated to reach $65.58 billion in 2022 while Europe and North America are expected to dominate the overall market of biodegradable packaging.
The European Union has passed a strict resolution to reduce overall consumption of thin plastic bags in the region by around 80 percent by 2019, which in turn is expected to create major growth opportunities for biodegradable plastics and paper manufacturers.
