Plastic bags are extremely harmful to the environment with scientists estimating that every square mile of oceans contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic and that by the year 2050 there will be more plastic bags in the ocean than fish. India is largely responsible for this phenomenon with 60% of the plastic that is dumped coming from India. This might be the reason why in his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged Indians to “take the first big step” towards eliminating single-use plastics and is expected to announce sweeping restrictions on the use of single-use plastics. Plastic is used by almost all consumer-facing industries including food processing and food delivery, retailers for packaging, and selling finished goods and agriculture, which is the reason why the plastic ban must have greatly affected them.
Beverage makers including PepsiCo India, Coca-Cola India, Bisleri — that sell packaged water and soft drinks in polyethylene terephthalate bottles — have announced setting-up of a packaging waste management drive that they claim will be the largest in Asia.
Dabur is working on reducing the consumption of plastics for packaging within the plants. In 2018-19, the firm reduced plastic usage in its secondary and tertiary packaging by 200 million tonnes (MT).
Big Bazaar has also spoken about how they want to help India “go greener” and how they are avoiding plastic.
The question that arises from this, however, is “What are the more environmentally friendly products that can replace plastic?” Fabrics such as jute and cotton are more ecological and friendly to the environment and can easily be woven into different products.
The decline in usage of plastic-based products in the packaging industry is in turn increasing demand for textile bags. Textile bags are made with different materials such as cotton, and burlap fabric. For a variety of applications where moisture is considered as a critical factor for packaging, textile bags are used to provide sufficient dryness to the product. Textile bags are used as an appropriate choice for packaging instead of plastic bags. The demand for textile bags is expected to boost in the near future, due to the inclination of consumer preference towards reusable and recyclable products.
Jute bags are also in great demand. Jute is naturally green and it is a 100 percent biodegradable and eco-friendly material. It does not pollute our environment, unlike plastic bags. This is the primary reason why a jute bag company finds it an excellent product to manufacture. If we really want to contribute towards a healthy and clean environment, it is necessary to encourage people to use jute and jute products. Being cheap, versatile, and climate-friendly, natural products such as Jute, enliven and brighten our lives.
Vintii Rohira & Disha Nevatia -