It looks exactly like a bag made from polythene but virtually it is not poly bag. This is biodegradable bag in which water also can be carried. This bag is not at all harmful to environment. Ingredients from maize are used to make this bag. A factory for producing this bag was set up at Chapal village under Godagari upazila in Rajshahi four years ago.
Iftekharul Haque is the owner of this bag factory named Crystal Biotech. He is making this environment-friendly bag called 'BT Bag' or Bio-tech bag (Joibo Projokti bag). He has already started to supply these bags for sale in the market as an alternative to polythene bags and getting a good response.
How did the factory start
After completion of studies in Business Administration, Iftekharul, a resident of Kazihata in Rajshahi city, started to build his career in the jute Industry. During his work, he tried to make bags using jute. But, he thought that it is not possible to replace polythene with jute bags and so, he started to work making bags using other materials which can be
an alternative to polythene bags.
From the Internet, he found the process of making German Technology of Biotech bag made of maize. In 2020, he went to Ahmedabad of India to visit a factory of such bags. Later, he imported machinery and raw materials from India to make such bags. In April of the same year, he started to build a bag factory at a fallow land of Chapal village under Godagari upazila. Production at the factory started in November of the same year.
Iftkharul said he set up the factory keeping in mind the harmful effects of polythene. He thinks that the jute industries in Bangladesh cannot flourish due to the use of polythene.
The features of the Bags:
This bag looks exactly like polythene bag. It weighs a little more than a poly bag. Any goods can be carried in this bag like that of polythene. Even, water, milk and fish can be carried in it. Any food item in this bag also remains safe. Iftekharul kept some green chilli in both polythene and the Biotech bag for 20 days in a refrigerator. The chilli inside the polythene bag got wet and damaged but it was fresh and dry inside the Biotech bag. While the Polythene bag did not rot under the soil even for years, the Biotech bag rotted within five to six months under the soil. Iktekharul claimed this bag is 100 per cent environmentally friendly.
The ingredients of the Biotech bag:
Iftekharul said that a white material looking like lentil needs to be imported from India for making this environment-friendly bag. This material named ‘Bioplastic’ consists of Calcium Carbonate, PLA, PBAT and the white material inside the maize grain. The raw material used for making the bag also contains some biomaterials including Onestarch.
Iftekharul is already making Bio tech bags in his factory and has already applied to the Department of Environment for approval but the department told him that approval of the factory will not be given until this bag is tested at BUET. However, BSTI has given verbal permission to Iftekharul to manufacture the bag.
Demand for biobag increasing day by day
Earlier Iftekharul supplied the Biotech bags in the markets of Rajshahi only but as the news of the bag is spreading, its demand continues to increase. Now, the demand for the bags and the setting up of the factories for making such bags is increasing from various places in the country. The bag has already been exported to Dubai and the samples of the bag have been sent to the USA, Canada, England and the Netherlands.
Currently, eight workers are employed at his factory. The capacity of the factory is to produce 200,000 pieces of bags a day. Now, 30,000 pieces are being prepared for sale. The price of Biotech bag is a bit higher than that of polythene bag. A piece of bag with the capacity to carry one kg of goods costs Tk 2.00 and a bag with a capacity of one and a half kg is sold at Tk 3.00 and a bag with five-kg capacity is sold at Tk 5.00 from the factory.
Iftekhatul claimed that he is the first in Bangladesh to make such environment- friendly bags. Now, such bags are also being made in some other places of the country. Many persons who wish to set up such a bag factory in other places of the country often visit his factory.
Mofazzal Hossain from Joypurhat district was seen visiting the factory recently. He said he came to learn about the bag on Facebook and he was visiting there to set up such a factory in Joypurhat.
Moniruzzaman, a retired government official from Sherpur of Bogura (now lives in Dhaka) also visited the factory. He said he came to the factory to see the process of production of the bag so that he could also set up such a factory in his area.
Dream of Iftekharul for a clean Bangladesh without Polythene:
Iftekharul dreams of a polythene-free Bangladesh in near future. He said from the social obligation, I have set up the factory to remove the use of Polythene from the country and the world.' He recently participated in a fair where he showed the Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan the environmentally friendly bag. The Director General of the Department of Environment also watched the bag and apprised it.
Iftekharul said,' Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan has expressed her interest to sit with him to discuss to ways to set up more Biotecg bag factories in the country. “I told her that all the existing polythene factories in the country could be turned into Biotech bag factory. No big investment is needed in this regard. Workers of any polythene factory will not become jobless by doing so. I am ready to extend all cooperation to turn all the polythene factories into the Biotech Bag. I want to see the country free from harmful polythene,” he added.
