Plastic pollution in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a developing country with a population of 166 million. Because of the ever-increasing use of plastic in different industries, especially packaging, Bangladesh remains one of the top plastic polluted countries. Images of drowned road ways, clogged rivers and flooding in well developed and structured places (Like : Dhaka capital of Bangladesh) often show up in trending pages of social media sites and make headlines on many daily newspapers. All this problems can be traced back to the conclusion of mismanagement in plastic wastes.

Solution - Sonali Bag

Polythene bags were outlawed in Bangladesh in 2002 due to environmental concerns, however some bags (that fit the regulations) are still allowed to be used by the general population. The law boosted research and development of natural fiber composite (NFC) materials as a replacement for polythene. In a decades-long endeavor, Mubarak Ahmad Khan, a scientist at the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, collaborated with other Bangladeshi researchers to produce a spectrum of NFC materials. Following that, in 2018, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) began commercial manufacture of Sonali Bags using Mubarak Ahmad Khan's Jute-based NFC. The product was named "Sonali Bag" (Sonali is Bengali for "golden") by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a nod to jute's denomination as the 'Golden Fiber. The bag is biodegradable and eco-friendly made from jute cellulose, which is being considered to have great potential in replacing plastic bags. The bag looks like a Plastic-polyethene bag but not. The strength of the material is also about the same as polythene bags. The bags are one hundred percent eco-friendly, sustainable, and recyclable. After being disposed of, these are expected to be fully decomposed within only 3-4 months, where a polythene bag can take even 200 years. The colors used are also food grade. The main chemical components are Jute cellulose, Synthetic polymer as a binder (biodegradable), and cross-linker for chemical reaction. Jute contains about 72-75% cellulose and about 50-55% of it can be extracted. Though this is invented in 2018 it is not yet ready for mass production. It hasn't reached production efficiency.

Dr. Mubarak Ahmad Khan concedes that Sonali Bag is a bit costlier than polythene bags but insists that the price difference will significantly reduce once the commercial production is in full swing. “If you consider the environmental damage that plastic bags cause, the cost difference is negligible,” he says.

He is currently working on expanding the Sonali Bag project, financed by Jute and Textile Ministry, into a large-scale production project to test its commercial viability.

Mubarak Ahmad Khan, whose works have been cited more than seven thousand times according to Google Scholar, spent decades on the potential commercial use of jute. His invention of compostable polymer bags from jute earned him a gold medal from the Bangladesh Science Academy in 2018.

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonali_Bag
2. https://www.eeer.org/journal/view.php?number=1245
3. https://www.tbsnews.net/environment/bangladesh-drowns-8-lakh-tones-plastic-waste-year
4. https://bangla.bdnews24.com/bangladesh/article1494618.bdnews
5. https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/endeavour/our-environmental-saviour-1584508
6. http://www.ipsnews.net/2002/01/bangladesh-ban-on-plastic-bags-changes-shopping-habits/
7. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2019/12/07/how-are-banned-polythene-bags-still-in-the-market

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