Chennaiites turn to biodegradable plastic bags after apex court ban

In the wake of the Supreme Court ban on plastic bags less than 40 microns thick and retailers charging for plastic bags, biodegradable and compostable plastic bags may soon become an alternative to both plastic and paper bags. With increased awareness, says manufacturers and distributors, the demand for such bags is increasing.Biodegradable and compostable bags are made from renewable resin obtained from potato or soyabean and take around 90 days to degrade in the soil. "The bags are made with pure resin and don't contain any heavy metals.

The bacteria in the soil will be able to eat the plastic bags," said Y Goutham, consultant for Ecolife that has been distributing these eco-friendly bags to hotels, organic grain manufacturers and for packaging in the city for the last three years. "Awareness was very low when we started and there were hardly any takers in the first year. Now with increased awareness and the ban on plastics, we are getting a good number of enquiries," he said.According to ISO 17088:2008 standards that specify procedures and requirements for biodegradable and compostable plastics, over 90% of the organic carbon in plastic should be converted to carbon dioxide within 180 days and the plastic should degrade completely without leaving any residuals in the compost.

While normal plastic bags can stay around landfills for years and are associated with risks such as jamming of water bodies and ingestion by animals, paper bags also cause a lot of pollution and use up a lot of energy during manufacture and recycling. "These biodegradable bags may not be completely energy-efficient but they have a significantly small carbon footprint as most of the carbon is given back to the environment by aerobic decomposition," says Balakrishnan.Manufacturers say compostable plastic bags are as strong and durable as a normal plastic bag. However, prices are steeper with a compostable plastic bag costing anywhere between 2 and 5 times a normal plastic bag.


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