Use of jute sacks remains unheeded despite legal binding

Staff Reporter :
Enforcing compulsory use of jute sacks for packaging, especially food grains government enacted the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act in 2010. Still, the jute bags and sacks remained under used as a large number of businesses are packaging commodities ignoring the law amidst a lack of enforcement by the responsible authorities.

The Mandatory Jute Packaging Act, 2010, included six food commodities as paddy, rice, wheat, maize, fertilizer and sugar to use jute sacks are made mandatory for storage, supply and packaging.

On January 21, 2017 chili, turmeric, onion, ginger, garlic, lentil, coriander, potato, atta, flour and bran were added to the list. Using jute bags for packaging of poultry and fish feed were made mandatory in 2018.

The primary focus of the law is not only to protect the interests of jute growers and millers, it also take account of wake of the global campaign on using of environment friendly, biodegradable natural materials.

In spite of the law, the ground reality tells the reverse story that the traders and millers using plastic bags intensely to package products including those 19 items in recent times.

Considering the ongoing Boro season, no difference yet to be seen as paddy and rice mostly packaging in plastic sacks continuing violating the act related with jute packaging.

Abdul Barik Khan, Director General of the Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) said to the journalists that “Despite having the jute packaging law, we are experiencing inaction on the part of the law-enforcing agencies in implementing it on a mandatory basis”.

Regarding full implementation of the law, Textiles and Jute Minister, Gazi Golam Dastagir, said that as per the law, use of jute sacks/bags mandatory for 19 products. If anyone uses plastic bags for these enlisted products, legal action will be taken.

‘Although the campaign is going on throughout the year, a special campaign has to be conducted considering the current context’, the Textiles and Jute Minister added.

Meanwhile, in first ten months (July- April) of the current financial year of FY23, the export of jute and jute goods also plunged drastically by 20.25 per cent comparing to the same period of the last fiscal year.

Jute sacks and bags export were also reduced by 4.96 percent year-on-year in this period. Exports of jute yarn twine and raw jute declined by 30.13 and 4.76 per cent respectively in the July-April period of the current fiscal year in compare to the same months of the FY’22.