A common view: Passing a construction site and imagining the dreams of people who own the houses or offices there! You must have come across piles of cement bags lying on those construction sites. Have you ever wondered whether these cement bags are eco-friendly or not? Millions of cement bags lie here and there, undergoing all the weather changes. Are these bags recycled, or are these bags reused? Let’s, talk about this and increase our information about this industry.
Earlier, the only usage of jute bags was for packaging cement. Apart from the loss of cement, these bags were not good enough to protect cement against moisture ingress. In most cases, it turned soggy, so the manufacturers found a solution. No more jute bags for cement- now it is Polypropylene Bags.
Material for cement bags
Earlier cement bags came out of jute, but jute production is seasonal. There was a time when the supply of jute was short, so the polypropylene polymer came into existence. There are certain perks of using the polypropylene polymer:
- It is readily available
- There is never a shortfall.
The polypropylene strips are woven in a weft and wrap pattern to create polypropylene bags.
Do you know why cement bags currently are only of polypropylene plastic? The answer is pretty simple- because these plastics are readily available! Let’s go through the additional advantages it offers:
- The toughness of polypropylene makes it possible to carry a significant amount of cement.
- It’s sturdy and long-lasting; therefore, these polypropylene-based cement bags are reusable.
- Its resistance to wear and tear makes it a hit item.
Unlike jute, polypropylene bags are impervious to water. The underlying cement, earlier, reacted in the most undesirable way when jute was the only option for the bags. They used to solidify and turn unusable whenever they came in contact with water. The result was soggy cement as it came in contact with moisture! Here polypropylene bags create a barrier to water and keep the cement safe.
- Polypropylene bags are tear resistible, which prevents rodents from spoiling and spilling the content.
- Its tear resistance property makes life of labour easy for them. Carrying these heavy cement bags without tearing is bliss.
- Polypropylene polymer is not chemically reactive, so it protects the cement from detoxification by reacting with acid.
Thus, these polypropylene bags are ideal for cement packaging.
But what happens to these bags when you take the cement out of them? In the DIY world, is there any other usage of these bags, or can they only play the role of cement carrier? Let’s check out the remaining part of the blog:
Building material –
Different types of packaging materials like cement, lime, gypsum, and other building materials are there in it. The most important characteristic of Polypropylene plastic is that it is waterproof. It can transport to different regions and in different seasons. Its waterproof quality makes it suitable for carrying material. Polypropylene plastics are lightweight and, thus, become the right choice for manufacturers of PP bags.
Agriculture-
Farmers used these cement bags after cleaning them with water for storing cereals, corn, rice, seeds, feed and fodder. PP bags are easy to stack, and their anti-skid properties make storage in the warehouse easier. Ten bags in a pile, its gusseted bottom makes a long pile suitable. It is available at a cheap price pr sometimes for free, with so many favourable properties, hence playing an important role in almost every farmyard.
Food products-
The common utility of these bags are to store products like sugar, salt, different kinds of flour, yeast, poppy seeds, pulses, etc. In some cases, they are delivered to the customers in the same packages only with certain changes. Attractive packaging is equal to attracting customers. These polypropylenes can be customized. One can dye them in different colours, print logos, laminate and give metalized layers to them. Together they appear attractive and hence help in marketing the product.
Chemical industry –
Storing fertilizers, powders, Herbicides, and polyolefin packaging, makes them suitable for this industry. They never react with the materials that remain in them, which is a plus for those eager to utilize them in this field. They are cheap but fulfil the purpose.
A bag to grow plants-
In the DIY world, people use every product to grow crops, whether packaged drinking water bottles, broken steel or any other metal products or almost anything. Then why not these packets? They act like grow bags, and recently in some videos, I saw them making colourful smiley emojis on them, and they looked damn attractive. To be honest, people can actually pay well for them if sold in the outer world.
Other usage-
One can store aquatic products, fruits, vegetables, food products and feed in these bags. Recently. I saw them being used in big factories to transport heavy materials from here and there. Poor people keep their utensils in it, and almost every household has one or the other bag with them to use as a storage bag anytime in the future.
With the upgradation of technology, people have also using it to make mats and different usable stuff by cutting thin strips of it and later binding a sheet of it.
Last but not least, people now have become very environment conscious. They want eco-friendly packages that can be recycled and reused. Hence Polypropylene polymer is used for the manufacture of packaging bags for cement. One can recycle these cement bags to make cheaper plastic products such as buckets, slippers and mugs. Clean these sacs with water. Farmers and small-scale industries use them to pack scrap, by-products and manure. It has multiple uses if thought correctly and applied in a creative way.
Wrapping up
In a populated world where things are getting scarce day by day and the population is growing high, together, we all need to ensure that nothing remains waste. Try to use it in the best way, as nothing is a waste in reality! Everything in the environment becomes a part of it with time!