The government launched the marketing of affordable and eco-friendly jute bags among consumers in the city on Sunday.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, and the Ministry of Water Resources, addressed the inauguration as the chief guest held at Karwan Bazar.
Adviser to the Ministry of Textiles and Jute, Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism Sheikh Bashir Uddin was the special guest and spoke at the event chaired by Md. Abdur Rouf, Secretary of the Ministry of Textiles and Jute.
Under this project, funded by the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund, jute bags will be marketed through TCB dealers and market traders' associations.
Price of each bag has been set at Tk 20, 25, 30, 35, 70, and 80, depending on size and quality.
The project aims to promote the use and reuse of jute bags, as well as enhance the skills, marketing capacity, quality control, and cost management of multipurpose jute product entrepreneurs.
Rizwana Hasan stated that the government has initiated a programme to provide jute bags at subsidised prices to encourage their use as an alternative to polythene for environmental protection.
Training will be provided to traders' associations and TCB dealers, while awareness will be raised through various means such as meetings, seminars, workshops, symposiums, and media publicity.
Speakers emphasised the urgency of ending the use of polythene and single-use plastics to protect the well-being of future generations. They called on citizens to pledge to no longer use polythene shopping bags.
TCB-appointed dealers have been tasked with selling these subsidised jute bags, which are now available at designated shops across various markets in Dhaka.
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