Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

‘Sonali Bag’: Biodegradable alternative to polythene

Published : Thursday, 12 March, 2020 at 12:00 AM  Count : 621
Md Zillur Rahaman
Md Zillur Rahaman

Md Zillur Rahaman

Jute is one of the major cash crops that is produced in large quantity in our country. The fibre obtained from jute is a useful material and 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 matter of pride that a scientist of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Mubarak Ahmad Khan, has invented a kind of bag from this golden fiver namely 'Sonali Bag' in 2017 which is not only eco-friendly but also affordable in price.

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 of polythene in our country and save our environment.

The Sonali Bag (Golden Bag) is a cellulose-based biodegradable bioplastic alternative to plastic bags, particularly polythene bags, developed by Mubarak Ahmad Khan. The cellulose used in Sonali Bags is extracted from jute, a major vegetable fiber crop grown across the globe. The bag not only looks and feels like plastic but is also compostable and completely biodegradable.

Polythene bag is a major global environmental concern. A 2018 UN estimate suggested that these are being produced at a rate of one trillion a year. A conservative estimate put the number of polythene bags used daily in Dhaka at 14-15 million pieces.

Polythene bags were banned in Bangladesh in 2002 because of environmental concern. The legislation added impetus to the research and development of natural fibre composite (NFC) material as an alternative to polythene. Mubarak Ahmad Khan developed a range of NFC material in a decades-long effort. Subsequently, in 2018, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) started the commercial production of Sonali Bag using a Jute-based NFC.

It is not only the law enforcement agencies who are to blame for the growing market of polythene or plastic bags in the country. The environment ministry has also failed to keep its political commitment in this regard. When polythene bags were banned in 2002, baby taxies (petrol-run auto rickshaws) were also banned in Dhaka. We saw them disappear. Baby taxi never came back to the capital as citizens got the alternative CNG-operated auto rickshaws in the city.

The ban on baby taxis may not have been effective if it had been enforced without introducing an alternative. Despite knowing the harm to the environment, people would travel by baby taxis at the time. People, who are educated and well aware of the risk of plastic bag use, are often seen buying goods in those bags. Such behaviour of the consumers cannot be restricted by the law only. At least, our past experience for 25 years shows that. That definitely does not justify the law enforcement's failure to prevent the use of plastic bags and failure to take action against the companies involved in polythene production at the capital's Kamrangirchar area under their noses.

There is no reason to believe that the law enforcement agencies are unaware of the operations of more than 50 polythene bag factories in Kamrangirchar  and nearly 100 wholesale sellers operating in Chawk Bazar. In addition, the mobile courts are also authorised to take action against sellers and traders of plastic bags. But that never worked fruitfully.

Although there was no suitable option, the use of polythene bags was reduced in 2006-07 due to police action. It is said that, necessity is the mother of invention. If the ban implemented properly and had been effective, a convenient solution would have come out and consumers would have been accustomed to using the new alternative products by now. The Environment Protection Act of 1995 provides imprisonment of 3 to 5 years and a fine of minimum Tk 50,000 up to Tk 1 million for production, marketing and use of polythene bags. The directives are only on paper based.

But the policy makers concerned are aware of that a Bangladeshi scientist has invented 'Sonali Bag' long ago that could help to enforce the polythene ban and meet consumer demands simultaneously. The scientist has been seeking funds from various government departments in this regard. It has already been proved he would be successful. High-level policymakers, including the environment minister, have acknowledged that. The commercial potential of the jute bags made by Mubarak Ahmed Khan is high. And not only in terms of meeting the needs of Bangladesh, this bag will have demand in many other countries of the world. This is not unknown to policy makers that several developed countries, including Japan, have shown interest in importing Bangladeshi Sonali bags.

If we talk about polythene bags, these 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.

Polythene bags have harmful effects to the environment. These bags are one kind of plastics which are non-biodegradable and cause environmental pollution. It undergoes a process known as photo degradation, in which these break down into smaller and smaller toxic particles.

These are bad for wildlife. Plastic bags can choke or poison fish, animals and birds, with marine wildlife particularly vulnerable.
Due to the use of chemical additives during plastic production, plastics have potentially harmful effects that could prove to be carcinogenic or promote endocrine disruption. Through biomonitoring, chemicals in plastics, such as BPA and phthalates, have been identified in the human population.

Plastic bags are non-biodegradable, and are extremely hazardous to the environment. These are a major constituent of the filth and garbage in our society. Plastic bags tend to disrupt the environment in a serious way. These get into soil and slowly release toxic chemicals. These eventually break down into the soil, with the unfortunate result being that animals eat them and often choke and die. Number of marine animals is killed every year from plastic bag litter in the marine environment as they often mistake plastic bags for food such as jellyfish. Plastic bags, once ingested, cannot be digested or passed by an animal so it stays in the gut.

Plastics take lone time to be decomposed but Jute bags are made of natural, biodegradable materials and these do not pose any danger to environment. These do not release any toxic substances into environment during their degradation. However, the chemical structure of most plastics renders them resistant to many natural processes of degradation and as a result they are slow to degrade. Together, these two factors have led to a high prominence of plastic pollution in the environment.

According to the experts and market analysts, the jute-made 'Sonali Bag' can put an end to the usage of harmful polythene bags, encourage environment-friendly packaging of products, reduces dependency on import of biodegradable bag. This product can be even exported. The food packaging and beverage packaging market is expected to play a crucial role in driving the biodegradable packaging market worldwide. Meanwhile, it is hoped that farmers can now earn a huge amount of money by selling jute if the jute made poly-bag is produced in large scale and marketed in the country and exported abroad.

The writer is Banker





LATEST NEWS
MOST READ
Also read
Kudos Shakib Al Hasan
2020: When people spoke truth to power
A revolutionary and a hero
Does Bangladesh need health court?
Bangladesh and China: An alliance for prosperity
Small powers of South Asia in strategic competition
Shariatpur, A name of negligence
Time in the time of coronavirus: Where did 2020 go?
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: district@dailyobserverbd.com, news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
🔝
close