Written by: Tanvir Mahtab Abir
Student, Department of Environmental Science and Disaster Management
Noakhali Institute of Science and Technology
The tradition of sending out invitation cards to relatives and family friends on the occasion of a wedding has been in place for a long time. After the day of the wedding, those invitation cards are placed in waste bins or dustbins. But how about if a plant can be born from those invitation cards? And fruits or vegetables can be born from those plants themselves?
A young researcher from Bangladesh, Mahbub Shumon has invented a similar paper named "Bonkagoj". There are seeds from eight types of vegetables, fruit, and three types of flowers included in Bonkagoj. Due to the thinness of the paper, they can be easily used as invitation cards, view cards, visiting cards, price tags of production goods, etc. Sumon has started producing this environment-friendly paper economically under his organization called "Shalbrikkho" (Shal Tree) at this point.
The Start of the Story
Despite belonging to the Electrical and Electronics Department in terms of both academic and professional background, Mahbub Shumon was always interested in different inventory ventures related to the environment. In order to convert this interest into reality, he started his organization called "Shalbrikkho" in October last year. Although he worked with renewable energy at first, Shumon started the production of Bonkagoj along with some other products last December. How did the idea of Bonkagoj incept? Shumon himself shared that story, "About a year ago (2018) while we were thinking of making the visiting card of our organization (Shalbrikkho), we thought that how about we do something different about it? During that time, protests on protecting the Sundarbans were going on in Bangladesh. While thinking about protecting the environment i.e. the Sundarbans, the zeal to do something environment-friendly came to my mind. I thought that most of the papers that we use for our day-to-day life are for temporary use, meaning that after a certain period of time, we throw away those papers as wastes in waste. Visiting card is notable among them. This is why I thought that people should be able to use our visiting cards for environmentally friendly works rather than throwing them away as waste after a certain time. The venture is the result of such thought processes." According to Shumon, through this venture, on the one hand, the country will be saved from the ever-increasing waste dump, and on the other hand, people will obtain some environment-friendly flower and fruit-vegetable plants. Work to develop this type of paper is currently going on in a number of countries in the world. However, no one has been able to include seeds from 11 crops till now. "We are the first who have been successful at making the paper by including seeds from so many crops."
How is the Bonkagoj prepared?
Since the initiative of producing Bonkagoj is based on saving the environment, the craftsmen are trying to use materials that can be reused throughout the whole process. At the end of the year, a huge amount of books and copies used by the school students become unwanted. The makers of Bonkagoj collect such unwanted, abandoned paper materials.
The papers have to be cut into pieces using a machine and soaked for 48 hours in water. After the papers have been completely mixed in the water, a mold has to be prepared out of them. By mixing seeds of different types of flowers and fruits-vegetables with this mold through a special process, Bonkagoj is prepared. About 25-30 sheets of Bonkagoj can be created through this process. The processes have to be completed with much caution in order to ensure that the seeds are not damaged. The production cost of each sheet of Bonkagoj is currently between 120 taka - 140 taka (1.5 USD- 2 USD). Shumon is hoping that this cost will reduce with the increasing production.
How is a plant born from paper?
There are seeds from 8 types of vegetables and 3 types of flowers in Bonkagoj. There is no exclusive method of planting this paper into the soil. Within 8-10 days of planting the paper as a whole or in pieces, with the presence of adequate moisture in the soil, the seeds start to germinate. If adequate moisture is not present within the soil, simply watering the paper a bit after planting it on the soil will do the work. Sprouts of vegetable or flower plants will come out from the soil within 10-12 days.
Besides the current usage of seeds of pepper, tomato (both species of large tomato and cherry tomato, red amaranth, eggplant (both species of round eggplant and tall eggplant), coriander leaf, jute mallow, steam amaranth leaf, onion, cosmos, daisy, marigold, sunflower, mixed portulaca, button rose, cockscomb flower, and some other plants, Mahbub Shumon informed that he is going to include seeds of a variety of plants in this project in the near future. The seeds inside a Bonkagoj can stay alive for up to an entire year.
Economical Success
The itinerary of that program was made of Mahbub Shumon's "Bonkagoj". Bonkagoj went on industrial-level production through the making of the itinerary of this convention. The card made from Bonkagoj was distributed to around 460 people including political leaders, delegates, and visitors attending the convention held in the auditorium of the Bangladesh Medical Association. During the election of the Supreme Court Lawyers Association last March, one candidate used promotional cards made of Bonkagoj for the election.
Expansion of its uses
According to Mahbub Shumon, Bonkagoj can be used for multiple purposes. From invitation cards (both for weddings and conferences) to visiting cards, price tags of products, and bookmarks, Bonkagoj can be very effectively used for these types of works. Even calendars can be made from Bonkagoj. The expansion of the identity of Bonkagoj has surpassed the borders of Bangladesh abroad. A variety of cards made of Bonkagoj has been sent to a number of countries already on the basis of demand.
How was this whole path from taking the initiative to achieving success? From the words of Mahbub Shumon, it became clear that the path was not that easy. "A lot of hours had to be dedicated in order to make this paper. And a lot had to be sacrificed for that. I even had to leave my job at one point. Bonkagoj had become a challenge for me by then. However, the repetition of failure made me quite hopeless about the whole project. Only after 4-5 trials, I was first able to produce seedlings from the paper." Shumon further informed, "It would not have been possible to finish this work entirely on my own. Sadia Gulrukh, Kamrul Hasan, and Ikramunesa Chompa have assisted me in a number of ways throughout the whole process. And with them is the existence of Team "Shalbrikkhon". Thus, Bonkagoj is the result of the efforts of the entire team."
Bangladesh is not the first
The idea of producing more than one type of plant from the seeds of a paper was first brought to light in the 70s by Australian Zoologist, Bill Mollison. In this agricultural method named "Permaculture", no sorts of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides are used on the land. Multiple types of crops are produced on the same land at the same time. Permaculture has been in mass use in many countries of the world. This process of producing plants from the seeds of a paper has gained popularity as "Seed paper" among countries abroad. The process of making and using paper is more or less the same all over the world.
But the inclusion of multiple seeds in the same paper like the Bonkagoj made in Bangladesh is rare in other countries. According to scientists, this process of producing crops without any use of insecticides or artificial fertilizers in such a small period of time will end up benefiting the environment in the long run. Huge opportunities for work will also end up being created.
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