The government move to implement the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010 has stumbled due lack of cooperation from rice-mill owners, the major instruments in implementing the act.
“Implementation of the act has been slow just because rice mill owners, who are not interested in packing their products in jute sacks, have been blocking the initiative,” said Mohammad Kefaetulla, a director of the Department of Jute.
The government enacted the act in January 2014 with an aim to revive the jute industry, making it mandatory for the country’s agriculture sector to do all kinds of packaging with jute.
The law says that paddy, rice, wheat, maize, fertiliser and sugar must be packaged in jute bags. Violators face a maximum of one year in jail or a fine of Tk50,000 or both for using non-degradable synthetics to package commodities.
But most of the rice mills in the country are still using contraband plastic sacks that are also detrimental to the environment.
“Finally, on June 1, the government made a move to take legal steps through mobile courts against the violators of the act,” the jute director said.
However, the activities of the mobile courts have been limited to fining insignificant amounts to certain mills selected by the leaders of the owners’ association, a leader of the association told the Dhaka Tribune seeking anonymity.
According to the Jute Department, around 750 million jute bags were to be used annually and 50% of the jute production would be consumed locally once the packaging act was implemented.
Sources from the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) claimed that the sector would regain strengths overnight if only 20% of the businesses started using bags made of the “golden fibre of Bengal.”
Jute director Kefaetulla said that rice millers use around 1.4 million synthetic sacks annually for packaging their products, and if these could be replaced with jute sacks, the situation would change.
However, Nirod Baran Saha, convener of the Naogaon Rice Millers’ Association, told the Dhaka Tribune that if they started using jute bags, their production costs would go up because a 50kg jute bag costs Tk30 more than a polythene bag of the same capacity.
Availability of jute sacks
One year ago, rice millers said they would use jute sacks if government could ensure adequate supply. BJMC then appointed several hundred dealers around the country to provide the rice millers with jute sacks.
Now, the rice millers say that they are not interested as the dealers had been unwilling to sell them sacks on credit.
“Cash and credit relationships are keys to the business that we, the millers, do. But the jute bag suppliers want cash in advance which is totally unacceptable,” said Nirod Baro Saha.
The government formulated the law on October 12, 2010 with a view to boosting the country’s dying jute sector and preventing the environment from getting polluted by widespread use of synthetic bags in packaging goods. The law was empowered to operate mobile courts against any and all violations.
In addition to enforcing the law by running mobile courts, the government has been trying to ban the production of plastic bags.
Kefaetaulla said that the Department of Jute has already tried to pursue the Department of Environment to not give clearance to plastic bag producers.