Aarong to plant 1.5 lakh trees with Tk 2.89cr from bag sales

Aarong has earned Tk 2.89 crore from selling bags in the last seven months under its “Bring Your Own Bag” (BYOB) initiative, and will donate the entire amount to environmental and social projects.

The popular retail chain will use the money to distribute 80,000 tree saplings to 40,000 participants of the BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Programme across the country, according to a press statement issued yesterday.

The proceeds will also be used to support habitat restoration in the Barind region in Rajshahi, including irrigation support and plantation of 50,000 trees under the Habitat Co-Creation initiative, added the statement.

The BRAC Enterprises-owned retail chain, in partnership with Mission Green Bangladesh, will also use the fund to plant another 20,000 trees through two Miyawaki forests at Damra, Rupganj.

The company realised that producing large quantities of paper bags requires cutting down a significant number of trees, Tamara Hasan Abed, managing director of BRAC Enterprises, said at a press conference at the BRAC Centre Inn in Dhaka yesterday.

Organisations must become more conscious about how their practices affect the environment and climate, she added.

Launched in September 2025 to curb excessive paper bag consumption, Aarong’s BYOB initiative replaced free bag distribution with a paid model. Customers who take their own bags to Aarong outlets receive a Tk 15 cashback; those who do not can purchase a paper bag from the outlet.

The shift has had a measurable impact. The retail chain distributed 69.92 lakh free bags between September 2024 and March 2025. Over the same period after the initiative began, usage fell to 23.12 lakh, a reduction of 46.79 lakh units, according to the press statement.

Tamara said that charging for bags is a common practice among retailers in India, Thailand, the United States, and the United Kingdom.