Invented in Bangladesh, the Sonali bag is an eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to the current polyethylene and polypropylene bags – one of the major causes of plastic pollution in the world. Biodegradable, eco-friendly, recyclable, mixed up with the soil within 3-4 months of its disposal and 1.6 times stronger than polyethylene, the bag is made from jute cellulose, a major crop in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi scientist Mubarak Ahmed Khan and his team went through a six-year research and are currently producing only 2,000 bags per day on an experimental basis. The invention is awaiting large scale commercial production and searching for investment from either government or private sources.
The video was produced by Dhaka based Drik social enterprise within the Citizens’ Platform on Climate Change and a Sustainable World South Asia project (CP South Asia), launched on September 2020 by CP International, Majority World and Drik, with the participation of ANCORED and financial support provided by UNESCO.