How a Bangladeshi startup is helping clean the environment
In 2018 Mahbub Sumon decided to do his part for the environment. Along with three friends, this young climate activist from Bangladesh founded Shalbrikhkho, an NGO to help people reuse, reduce, and recycle everyday products. daily-use products.
Two of Mahbub’s projects — BONKAGOJ and plastic from potatoes (POLKA) — have caught the attention of thousands across social media.
What motivated you to work on renewable energy and eco-friendly alternatives?
While researching renewable energy prospects and the alternative power sector, I found that climate change is our world’s biggest crisis.
I started developing ideas like natural agriculture for cities, alternative energy sources, and eco-friendly alternatives to plastic products.
“Since paper is made from trees, we can use that paper to grow a tree again,” I experimented with permaculture using BONKAGOJ and succeeded. I also developed POLKA (plastics from potatoes) as an alternative to polythene.
What is BONKAGOJ?
BONKAGOJ, a biodegradable product, made from recycled paper and embedded with different plant seeds.
It is handmade and works like ordinary paper. But, after its use, if put in a dampened pot, it will sprout flowers or vegetables within weeks.
Worldwide, billions of trees are chopped down every year to produce paper. Single-use paper and paper products pollute cities. So, I had the idea of turning waste papers into flower gardens to save the environment.
When did you first think of introducing this kind of recycled paper?
We first toyed with the idea of recycling used paper and making it eco-friendly in the beginning of 2018. Finally, we launched the product in December 2019.
The idea is not new. This biodegradable eco-paper has been used in the US since 1941. In 2016, leading Japanese daily “The Mainichi Shimbunsha,” was the first to introduce a green newspaper — a 100% sustainable newspaper made from recycled and vegetable paper.
The production process is not rocket science: discarded paper is collected, shredded, soaked, and turned into pulp before being placed in dice. Vegetable or flower seeds are used in production.
We are producing BONKAGOJ in different sizes — from A4 to business and invitation cards. While it is thicker and more expensive than normal paper, we have recently started making a thinner version for writing purposes.
This special paper must be used within a year, otherwise the embedded seeds may not germinate.
Though we are currently producing 1,200-1,500 pieces of BONKAGOJ every month, we plan to ramp up production in the coming days. We can bring down its selling price once we start large-scale production. Currently, the demand for the product is low.
What is POLKA?
POLKA is an alternative to polythene shopping bags. It is a bioplastic product made from potatoes.
The idea of POLKA came to mind when I visited Munshiganj and found several potato cold storages that had been incurring losses for years. With the help of my German friend, Jan Schmidt, I made the first bag using potato starch.
After trial and error, I succeeded in making an alternative to toxic polythene, which is biodegradable and eco-friendly.
In an effort to reduce plastic use, Bangladesh was one of the first countries in the world to ban thinner plastic bags in 2002. But the ban has had little success.
According to the Department of Environment (DoE), Bangladesh generates around 3,000 tons of plastic waste every day. The excessive use of polythene bags pollutes and litters cities, alongside other environmental woes.
We are producing POLKA but the pandemic and financial scarcity have throttled our production process. However, we intend to start large-scale production by 2023.
What are the challenges in your field?
We face numerous challenges while working on renewable energy and eco-friendly alternative products. Firstly, most new forms of innovation take time to challenge consumer norms.
We also need financial support from governmental and non-governmental organizations.To meet Bangladesh’s growing energy and consumption needs, the government has to focus on renewable energy sources and biodegradable alternatives.
Fortunately, the country is slowly trying to switch over to renewable sources. We have started building the first nuclear power plant, and thinking of newer ways to generate more energy for residential and commercial use.
We have to change the mode of electricity production — from fossil fuels to renewable energy — and we need to be prudent by making investments in the clean energy sector. Currently, Bangladesh is almost self-sufficient in power production.
For the next 50 years, we have to think about a sustainable energy plan and how we can shift completely to cleaner, greener energy sources while also keeping up efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and production rate.
