About jute

For centuries, jute has been an integral part of Bengali culture, which is shared by both Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, much of the raw jute fibre of Bengal were exported to the United Kingdom, where it was then processed in mills concentrated in Dundee, but this trade had largely ceased by about 1970 due to the entrance of synthetic fibres. However, Jute has now entered many diverse sectors of industry, where natural fibres are gradually becoming better substitutes. Margaret Donnelly was a jute mill landowner in Dundee in the 1800s. She set up the first jute mills in India. EcoBags are proud to have seen the original Dundee Jute machines in our Jute mills, during our visit to our exclusive manufacturing partner in India.

Jute is a rain-fed crop with little need for fertilizer or pesticides. The production is concentrated in India and Bangladesh. The jute fibre comes from the stem and ribbon (outer skin) of the jute plant. The fibres are first extracted by retting. The retting process consists of bundling jute stems together and immersing them in low, running water. There are two types of retting: stem and ribbon. After the retting process, stripping begins. In the stripping process, non-fibrous matter is scraped off, then the workers dig in and grab the fibres from within the jute stem. Moreover, jute can be grown in 4–6 months with a huge amount of cellulose being produced from the jute hurd (inner woody core or parenchyma of the jute stem) that can meet most of the wood needs of the world. Jute is the major crop among others that is able to protect deforestation by industrialisation. Thus, jute is the most environment-friendly fibre starting from the seed to expired fibre, as the expired fibres can be recycled more than once. India with overall of 66% of worlds production tops the production of jute. Bangladesh with 25% lies at second position followed way behind by China with 3%.

Jute is the second most important vegetable fibre after cotton; not only for cultivation, but also for various uses. Jute is used chiefly to make cloth for wrapping bales of raw cotton, and to make sacks and coarse cloth. The fibres are also woven into curtains, chair coverings, carpets, area rugs, hessian cloth, and backing for linoleum.

The fibres are used alone or blended with other types of fibres to make twine and rope. Jute butts, the coarse ends of the plants, are used to make inexpensive cloth. Conversely, very fine threads of jute can be separated out and made into imitation silk. As jute fibres are also being used to make pulp and paper, and with increasing concern over forest destruction for the wood pulp used to make most paper, the importance of jute for this purpose may increase. Jute bags are used for making fashion bags & promotional bags. The eco-friendly nature of jute make its ideal for corporate gifting. Also, fabrics made of jute fibres are carbon-dioxide neutral and naturally decomposable.