介绍:
In an effort to help solve the plastic pollution, the Indian company EnviGreen has found combination of natural starch and vegetable oils that looks and feels just like plastic, but is 100% organic, biodegradable and eco-friendly.
EnviGreen founder Ashwath Hedge came up with the idea for these revolutionary bags after seeing people struggling to find alternatives to plastic bags, following bans imposed by several Indian cities. “People were concerned about how they would carry products from the market. Everyone didn’t want to buy a bag to carry a kilogram of sugar,” said Hedge. So the young man decided to work on something that would solve this problem while being environmentally friendly.
Hedge spent four years researching and experimenting with various materials. One day he discovered a combination of 12 ingredients, including potatoes, tapioca, corn, natural starch, vegetable oils, bananas and flower oils, which looked and felt like plastic, but created none of the environmental problems. The manufacturing process was obviously a trade secret, but Hedge revealed that the raw materials were first converted into liquid form, and then taken through a six-stage process to create the bags.
The cost of an EnviGreen bag is about 35% higher than that of a common plastic bag, but the benefits of using the former are more than worth the extra cost. Once discarded, EnviGreen bags biodegrade naturally in less than 180 days, and if placed in water, they dissolve in less than a day. For quick disposal, they can be placed in boiling water, and they dissolve in about 15 seconds.
“We don’t use any chemicals at all. Even the paint used for printing on the bags is natural and organic,” said Hedge. That means that not only users can discard them without hurting the environment, but that animals can eat them safely.
EnviGreen has set up a factory, where it produces around 1,000 metric tons of eco-friendly plastic bags a month. Hedge claimed that he wanted to set up enough production facilities before they were distributed to individual customers and shop owners.
Apart from protecting the environment, Hedge also planned to use EnviGreen bags to support local farmers. “We have an idea of empowering farmers in rural Karnataka by getting all our raw materials from them,” said Hedge. “We are also planning to distribute seeds to help them produce the amount of materials required to make the bags.”
Inventions like EnviGreen can help solve the plastic pollution. So let’s hope it lives up to its potential.
