Biodegradable polybags: A better alternative from Ecospear awaiting green light

Although Bangladesh, especially Dhaka and other big cities, is suffering from polythene bags’ harmful effects on the environment, Mohammad Raihanul Islam is still struggling to introduce a better alternative — ecological and environment-friendly polybags — among consumers.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of Ecospear is currently knocking on every door to get clearance from the government to introduce the biodegradable bag to the domestic market, despite being the only company with the biodegradable testing certificate from the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR).

Due to the lack of a testing facility, the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) cannot provide the certificate for marketing in the domestic market, and that is why Raihan’s dream is yet to become real.

Ecospear currently manufactures two types of polybags — biodegradable bags and compostable bags — which have already been certified by TÜV Austria, Green LEAF and Impact Solutions UK.

However, in a major development, Ecospear has already exported the goods to the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany.

Raihan, who is from Chattogram, believes that BSTI will soon understand the importance of it and will allow the bag to be used everywhere in Bangladesh, which will significantly reduce the environmental impacts.

A BSTI certificate is required to sell any goods in the market, though the polybags are roaming freely despite being banned. Still, attaching the biodegradable certifications, Ecospear applied for the BSTI CM (Certification Mark) licence in 2021.

BSTI responded in the middle of 2022 that it is unable to offer the licence since it lacks the testing lab for this product. Later, the Department of Environment (DoE) formed a committee to address the issue.

Talking to The Business Post, Raihan said, “The world’s leading and acceptable organisations have certified our bags. I’m optimistic that the committee will recommend giving us the clearance.”

Meanwhile, anybody is welcome to use it for their sustainable goal, since they have met all the international conditions, he added. “Bringing these eco-friendly bags will help reduce the use of harmful polythene.”

Enter Fastix

Ecospear’s new addition to their arsenal for solving plastic pollution is vaccinated plastic, called Fastix (Fast-degradable Intelligent Plastics), which is made using the technology derived from Polymateria Ltd, a start-up based at Imperial College London.

Created by Polymateria, this thin and flexible plastic breaks down within two years without causing any toxicity and can also be recycled.

This game-changing technology can be produced with an expiry date and ensures no microplastics at the end of its degradation. It’s not an OXO-degradable technology, which creates microplastics and is banned in North America, the European Union and Australia.

Some companies are trying to push OXO-degradable polybags into Bangladesh. Bringing this to attention, Raihan said, unlike the fake-degradable plastics, the vaccinated plastics must go through rigorous pass/fail testing under the British Standard PAS 9017, which is an umbrella standard compiled with different ASTM, EN and ISO standards.

Ecospear achieved the pass certification in 2022 from Impact Solutions, one of the most reputed ISO-accredited labs in the world. Fastix got the attention of different international buyers immediately, because of its cutting-edge features and affordability over other plastic alternatives.

Currently, Ecospear produces compostable products from renewable resources like corn, cassava and biodegradable products from PP and PE with Vaccine (Pro-biotic). Since its inception, Ecospear is devoted to the environment and urges everyone to join their venture to save the future generation from the plastic pandemic.

Currently, Ecospear annually exports worth over $1,00,000 internationally a nd business is gradually increasing.

Raihan also said that now he is producing compostable bags at Tk 8-10, and biodegradable bags at Tk 3-5. But the production cost will reduce when the market is created in Bangladesh.

Plastic bags will take 100–300 years to disintegrate or vanish, but Ecospear’s biodegradable products will decompose with soil or water within 90-180 days. They will also not cause any harm to nature or even to animals if they eat or swallow them accidentally, he said.

The journey

Raihan, a North South University Graduate, started his carrier in the apparel sector in 2006 with a vision to be an entrepreneur one day. Observing the ever-increasing competition and the market saturation of the garments industry, he did not find it the right fit for him. That led him to plan to go abroad.

In 2009, he went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and started working for telecommunications company Etisalat. A few years later, he started a business there alongside his job.

In 2016, he returned to his retired parents in Bangladesh and decided to jump back on the business train by taking on a new project.

Coming from a middle-class family, Raihan started looking for a perfect niche to start working. He always believed that if he finds a need that is getting ignored, addressing that will lead to good business.

The idea came to him at the time of a disaster, after Cyclone Roanu made landfall in Bangladesh in May 2016. He saw that almost every road in Chattogram city’s Halishahar area was flooded because polythene bags blocked the drain system.

Bangladesh was the first country in the world to ban polybags in 2002. But till 2016, no alternatives were introduced to the people. So, he took the chance of doing business by serving the environment and the people of his country, he said.

Raihan took some time to analyse the risk and possibilities and visited several countries before making the final decision. Finally, he started his journey as an entrepreneur by setting up Ecospear in 2017.

He shared a shed with one of his uncles in the Halishahar area to set up his factory. By mid-2017, Ecospear was ready to kick off.

Raihan hired six workers for production and he took care of all administrative, including marketing and selling, works. “I’ve invested all my savings here. I was so excited when the factory started operating. It was a memorable moment.”

“Now I have 21 employees, and 16 of them are in production. The rest are in marketing and sales. However, I still look after everything as the CEO,” he added. Ecospear shifted to Dhaka’s Tejgaon at the end of 2018.

Raihan now maintains a close collaboration with DoE, BSTI and BCSIR. He is also one of the proud members of BSTI’s BDS EN-13432 biodegradable standard committee and contributes his expertise in detail.