National Jute Board launches “Bring Your Own Bag” campaign with participation of school kids & NGOs

05 January 2021: Plastic bags have a short usage time and are rarely recyclable, taking 1,000 years or more to decompose. They pose a threat to wildlife, as countless animals become entangled or mistake them for food each year.

So, in a bid to outplace plastic bags, National Jute Board (NJB) has launched “Bring Your Own Bag” (BYOB) campaign with participation of school children, NGOs and distributed low cost eco-friendly jute bags. Efforts are also being made to promote cloth bags to replace use of plastic bags.

NJB also organized 3 jute fairs at Berhampur, Siliguri and Raipur to extend market support to these jute artisans for sales promotion of jute diversified products. The Jute Board trained 25 tribal women at Shantiniketan and 25 village women at Baruipur for manufacturing braided jute diversified products.

It may be noted that in the USA, Coastal Watch Group is undertaking similar campaign – The Bring Your Own Bag – to help conserve oceans and beaches by reducing the number of single-use plastic bags handed out in our area each year. Over 100 billion disposable plastic bags are used annually in the United States, so it is not a surprise that they are one of the most common trash items collected on beaches worldwide. The solution to this problem is simple – bringing your own reusable bags when you shop eliminates the need for disposable plastic bags.

Coastal Watch is a group of Sanibel and Captiva community members who cherish the ocean, appreciate the rich history of our region, and are determined to conserve our oceans and estuaries for future generations. With help from local businesses and organizations, the NGO is distributing reusable canvas bags into the community. So far, they have distributed over 20,000 bags !