A Vietnamese company has released its first batch of self-dissolving plastic bags – a product that promises to solve a big environmental problem.
An over-consumption of ultra-thin plastic bags that take dozens of years to break down is causing serious environmental damage. The bags block waterways, threaten wildlife and pile up in the city and the countryside by the millions.These new self-dissolving plastic bags, however, break down into H20, CO2 and tiny plastic fragments after just a few months when left out in the open and under the sun. The powder continues to break down into the soil without any negative impacts, according to the researchers behind the bags.The product is the brain-child of the Centre for Studying and Producing Bio Products (CSPBP), Institute of Industrial Chemistry (Vinachem) and New Technology Investment Company.Dr Nguyen Duc Kham, CSPBP’s director, revealed that the secret lies in the mix of bio-polymers and natural polymers extracted from natural materials found in the country.The price of the bio-product is presently just 3-5 percent more than normal plastic bags, since the price of plastic has recently fallen.According to Kham, major customers will be nurseries who will use the bags to cover seedling, young vegetables or land surfaces in coffee farms to prevent evaporation.The bags should help farmers, who will no longer have to collect waste wrappings, he explained.The producers are also trying to bring their products to the mainstream market, particularly in grocery stores. The bags are currently available at two supermarkets in Hanoi, at the Fivimarts on Tran Vu and Tran Quang Khai streets as part of a pilot project.
