UNB, Dhaka :
Environment-friendly Sonali Bag, made of jute, has not been commercially viable even after five years of its pilot production due to fund shortage and continuing promotion of harmful polythene bags.
Project insiders and innovators of the product are frustrated after failing to attain commercial viability even as an environmentally friendly alternative to polythene. The project is waiting to die now due to lack of allocation to run the factory, project insiders said.
A pilot project was taken up in 2018 to market bags made from jute. However, the bag could not be brought to the market commercially in his fifth year. Inventor Mubarak Ahmed says another Tk 350-400 crore would be needed to market the golden bag. The officials of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation could not say when the project of commercial production of golden bag, an alternative of polybag will be implemented. In the absence of reliable alternatives, the market has floated banned polythene. The use of polythene is increasing in vegetable markets, grocery stores, shopping malls and chain shops.
