Home ›› 08 Sep 2022 ›› Editorial
The demand for stylish packaging products has been increasing day by day. Entrepreneurs are attracting consumers by providing beautiful eye-catching colourful packaging even of products which are not up to the mark. Consumers get introduced to the packaging first before obtaining a commodity.
It is of course true that product packaging serves as a means to protect the product inside. Packaging keeps the product safe between manufacturing and shipment up to the retailer maintaining its smoothness.
Packaging, especially for food products, needs additional care to protect against health hazards and security of health. A product without packaging cannot be secured.
There are different types of packaging such as; primary packaging, secondary packaging, tertiary packaging and ancillary packaging.
In producing these packaging materials, several products are used; these are plastic, wood, paper, tin, glass, jute and many others. Plastic is the most used packaging material.
From reliable sources, it is found that the weight of packaging made from plastic production is about 367 million MT (2020) globally, and it is expected to double by 2050.
The global packaging market was valued at $ 1.00 trillion in 2021; it is expected to reach $ 1.3 trillion by 2027 registering a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.9 per cent during 2022-2027. Contactless delivery has increased a lot in Covid-19 pandemic.
Bangladeshi plastic sector claimed that they have been able to meet nearly 100 per cent of the total demand of the country by producing different types of packaging products. Most of the industries are large-scale industries investing more than one hundred crores each.
According to the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturing and Exporters Association (BPGMEA), the number of factories is about 78 which are growing to meet the demand for RMG, pharmaceuticals, food processing and many others.
Their export is also increasing. However, they are mostly indirect exporters, availing all benefits as like as direct exporters.
Primary packaging is for those products which directly come in contact with actual products like laminated products (bags made of polymer sheets or metalized plastic sheets), plastic containers, thermoformed products (Heated to a temperature and then moulded into a different type), tin can, wet-strength paper, laminated tubes (tube packing used to pack pests), mono cartons (boxes made of paper boards), retort pouched (for fully cooked food), paper foil laminate (laminated aluminium foil), composite cans (made of multiple layers), glass containers, cling film to wrap foods, woven sack (made of jute), jute bags, intermediate bulk container or flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC), paper bags (recyclable), bubble wrap (for protecting fragile items).
Among different types of packaging, plastic packaging is number one for its light weight, easy use, resistance and flexibility, etc.
For secondary packaging, plastic crates are made of plastic, plastic trays are used mostly in departmental stores and retail stores, EPS (Euro Pool System) trays are food-grade trays to pack foods, and wooden crates are also used.
For tertiary packaging, mostly in use are corrugated fiberboard or fluted corrugated sheets made using corrugating machines extensively used for making boxes and envelopes for shipping and transportation purposes, wooden containers, wooden pallets, and plastic pallets are used for transporting items.
Ancillary packaging is tapes, adhesives, straps labels and printing ink. These are essential items for the industry that allows them to efficiently and securely store and ship products, the products mentioned above are adhesives, printing ink, PP straps, caps and closures, tapes, labels, and cushioning materials (to protect fragile items during shipment).
In Bangladesh plastic packaging is popular while jute, paper board, wood, glass and similar other products are used depending on the nature of the products.
The government is encouraging people to use jute packaging, and a packaging act has been introduced.
Jute-based packaging products are not so popular except in some areas because of their cost-effective production.
Some paper and wood and glass-based packaging are in the markets; plastic packaging however still dominates significantly.
Plastic packaging is supporting several export sectors, especially ready-made garments, pharmaceuticals, and agro-based food products as an import substitute sector.
The volume of plastic export is not very promising. The sector boasts of about one billion USD export of which USD one million is from direct export while about USD nine hundred million from deemed export which has got no official statistics because deemed export is indirect thus calculated with the direct export meaning with RMG, pharmaceuticals, food processing etc. where these have been used.
Waste management has become a serious issue as a large number of plastic and plastic packaging products are used within the country.
Bangladesh is ranked 10th in terms of the percentage of mismanaged plastic waste in the world. The country’s annual population growth rate is 1.1 per cent and 3 per cent urbanization rate.
Plastic consumption will be 30 kg per capita. Plastic consumption is rapidly growing and the rate of growth of plastic waste is 7.5 per cent.
According to Wasteconcern, a social business enterprise for waste recycling, current per capita plastic consumption in Bangladesh has grown to 10 kg, while for Dhaka it is around 24kg.
The share of recyclable plastic waste across Bangladesh is 36 per cent of the 800,200 tonnes. Only 8 per cent of the 381-tonne plastic waste created in Dhaka every day is recycled and 62 per cent is dumped in the environment.
The total amount of single-use plastic waste generated every year across the country is around 87,000 tonnes. Every year, around 73,000 tonnes of micro-plastic waste flow through Bangladeshi rivers into the Bay of Bengal.
Since 1950, the world has created 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste, 91 per cent has never been recycled.
World Economic Forum expects plastic production will double by 2040.
The situation will be horrible if recycling is not announced as an officially recognized industrial sector.
Germany recycles 50 per cent of its plastic products and Sweden recycles 99 per cent of its waste.
Researchers estimate that plastic would pump more than 850 million tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere globally in 2021 alone. By 2050, those emissions could rise to 2.8 billion tonnes.
Plastic packaging has huge potential to grow and become a welcome addition to the export basket. Making an environment-friendly sector is a real challenge.
Bangladesh government banned polythene bags through an amendment to the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 in 2002. A 5 per cent Supplementary Duty (SD) has been imposed on all forms of polythene and plastic bags since FY 2018-19.
Department of Environment (DoE), with the support of the World Bank, formulated an action plan in 2021 titled ‘Towards a Multi-sectoral Action Plan for Sustainable Plastic Management in Bangladesh’.
The objective of this action plan was to achieve the short, mid, and long-term targets of sustainable plastic management set for 2022-23, 2024-26, and 2027-30.
The latest budget proposed withdrawing a 5 per cent tax on plastic and polythene bags. Experts say this decision can contradict DoE’s plans to reduce plastic waste.
An extended producers’ responsibility (EPR) policy was suggested. Single-used plastic has been banned but these are not being implemented.
For plastic products, the only solution is to create a circular economy for plastics.
By turning waste into raw materials, materials are kept in use and the need for virgin plastic is reduced.
The use of plastic should be fully decoupled from the consumption of finite resources. Waste collection and waste management have been a real challenging issue for the country.
The circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.
We must transform every element of our take-make-waste system. How do we manage resources, how do we make and use products, and what do we do with the materials afterwards?
Plastic packaging is a growing sector, and with the increase in global demand for plastic packaging will increase. We need to continue our business by taking full care of nature otherwise our future will be in trouble.
The writer is CEO of BUILD a Public Private Dialogue Platform. She can be contacted at ceo@buildbd.org
