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Jute and the Environment
Jute has an intense relationship
with the environment.
It is bestowed with natural process to clean the air. One
hectare of jute plants can consume up to 15 tons of carbon dioxide
and release 11 tons of oxygen during the jute growing season (about
100 days).
It improves
soil fertility by providing
nutrients to the soil thereby increasing the yield of other crops.
Jute agricultural practices are environmentally sound. They cause
minimal impact to the natural environment as they give back to
nature 60% of the nutrients it takes for its growth. Jute products
are 100% biodegradable and recyclable and can be disposed of without
causing environmental hazards. Jute
Products could be disposed of by dumping in soil containing 22%
water in 100 days. Dumping requires very small amount of space and
can be done at any place. After completion of dumping period, the
soil could be used as natural fertilizer.
The concept of
Green Market is becoming popular rapidly and jute trade is also
likely to come under the influence of Green Market very soon. The
Green Markets will be driven by the factors such as Carbon
Footprint, Water Footprint, Eco-label, Supply Chain Audits and
Retail Chain Sustainability Policies, Fair trade, Chemicals in the
value chain and Life Cycle Assessment and comparative assertions
with peer review. In jute manufacturing some chemicals are used
which would have to address the REACH ( Registration, Evaluation and
Authorisation of Chemicals) requirements now in force for retention
of its existing market as well as for market expansion in Europe. It
may be mentioned that REACH is the European Community Regulation on
chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006) and it is important that
all manufacturers, importers and downstream users of chemicals are
prepared and fully aware of the impact this new legislation has on
their business.
The
superiority of natural fibres as an environmentally friendly product
over synthetics could be understood from the facts that as per a
rough estimate plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other
marine animal’s deaths every year when animal mistake them for
food. The manufactures of plastic bags add tons of carbon emission
into the air annually. In UK the banning of plastic bags would be
the equivalent of taking 18,000 cars off the roads every year.
Approximately 60-100 million barrels of oil are required to make 500
billion to 1 trillion plastic bags used each year. Most plastic bags
take over 400 years to biodegrade while some figures indicate that
plastic bags could take over 1000 years to break down.
In 2002
Ireland imposed a 15 euro cent tax on plastic bags and as a result
its use dropped over 90% within 5 months. In the same year
Bangladesh banned polyethylene bags in Dhaka as the bags were
choking the drainage system and causing floods in the capital. China
has banned plastic bags in 2008 and, a year later, it was reported
that the country saved the equivalent of 1.6 million tons of oil and
40 billion bags. United Arab Emirates has recently announced that
there will not be any plastic bag in UAE after 2014. India also has
banned plastic bags in several cities. Other countries that have
introduced additional charges or tax on plastic bags include Rwanda,
Eritrea and Swaziland. Bangkok is holding a ‘No Bag, No Baht’
campaign to reduce the 600,000 plastic bags which offers consumers a
one Baht (3 US cents) discount for every 100 Baht (3 US$) purchase
if they use their own cloth bags when shopping. This means each
plastic bag will cost them one Baht. Bangkok Metropolitan
Administration figures show that about 600,000 plastic bags are used
every day in this city of 9 million people and the disposal cost is
around US$ 18.4 million
The
National Jute Board (NJB) of Kolkata, India commissioned a study on
Life Cycle Assessment for developing Eco-labeling and Disposal
Protocol for Jute Products. The study has shown that
Eutrophication and air
acidification by jute product is much lower as compared to the
competing product such as paper bags, disposable PE bags,
biodegradable PE bags and reusable PE bags.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
from jute are negative on account
of the large sequestration that occurs during the jute growing stage
(Fig.-12). The IJSG Secretariat has taken initiative in this regard
and has already organised one seminar in Kolkata and one in Dhaka
which were attended by participants from India and Bangladesh. The
IJSG Secretariat is working for Eco-labeling and Disposal Protocol
for overall promotion of jute products as per discussion and
recommendations of the seminars.
Jute life
cycle impact on the environment is lesser than Polypropylene (PP)
all life cycle stage impacts. 1
MT
of PP releases 7 MT of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the nature
whereas 1 MT of Jute fibre removes 2 MT of CO2 from
nature.
Jute and jute products are also photodegradable, thermal degradable,
non-toxic, and have UV absorbing capacity. |
