properties are quite similar," said Mubarak Ahmad Khan, a scientific adviser to the state-run Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) and leader of the team that developed the new 'sonali' - the Bengali word for golden - bags.

He said the sacks are biodegradable after three months buried in soil, and can also be recycled.

Bangladesh is now producing 2,000 of the bags a day on an experimental basis, but plans to scale up commercial production after signing an agreement last October with the British arm of a Japanese green packaging firm.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in March urged those working on the project "to help expedite the wider usage of the golden bags" for both economic and environmental gains.

In April, the government approved about $900,000 in funding from Bangladesh's ownclimate change trust fund to help pave the way for large-scale production of the bags.

"Once the project is in full swing, we hope to be able to produce the sonali bag commercially within six months," Mamnur Rashid, the general manager of the BJMC, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

BIG DEMAND

Bangladesh was one of the first countries to ban the use of plastic and polythene bags, in 2002, in an effort to stop them collecting in waterways and on land - though the ban has had little success.

Today more than 60 countries - from China to France - have outlawed the bags in at least some regions or cities, Khan said.

As the bans widen, more than 100 Bangladeshi and international firms are looking into using the new jute-based shopping sacks,