The government is to start a massive operation to stop the use of polythene bags from today, said State Minister for Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam yesterday.
The Mandatory Jute Packaging Act will also be implemented from Monday, he told reporters at his office.
The ministry earlier extended till today the deadline for implementing the Jute Packaging Act in response to repeated requests from the business community, as it sought time to make necessary arrangements for introducing jute bags in place of polythene bags.
To promote the jute sector, the government in January last year enacted the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010, which says jute has to be used for all kinds of packaging across the country.
According to the law, paddy, rice, wheat, maze, fertiliser and sugar must be packaged in jute bags. Violators will face a maximum of one-year jail sentence or a fine of Tk50,000 or both for using non-degradable synthetic materials to package commodities.
But most of the rice mills across the country are still using plastic bags, which are currently prohibited.
“Using polythene bags and acting in breach of the law will lead to penalties,” Mirza Azam said.
He said 10 monitoring cells led by the ministry’s joint secretaries had been formed to run the operation. “There is adequate supply of jute bags to meet the packaging demand in rice mills for the next two months.”
According to the ministry, around 750 million jute bags will be used annually in the country and 50% of jute will be used locally once the jute packaging act is implemented.
Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation sources said even a 20% enforcement of the jute packaging act could revive the jute sector overnight.
