Online edition of Daily News

Canada and the Maldives will be the next two major foreign buyers of degradable polythene bags from Sri Lanka in addition to the current supplier the United Kingdom, Chairman, Plastic Packaging (Pvt) Ltd, Mervyn Dias said.

He was addressing a ceremony recently at Plastic Packaging (Pvt) Ltd. premises, Ratmalana to mark the first export consignment of degradable polythene bags shipped to the United Kingdom from Sri Lanka.

He said the idea of manufacturing these degradable polythene bags came with the main intention of restricting the use of non- degradable polythene bags and sheets which have become an environmental hazard in the world today.

The first export of degradable polythene bags to the United Kingdom by Plastic Packaging (Pvt) Ltd, took place at the company premises at Ratmalana recently. Here the Chairman Mervyn Dias hands over the first box containing the degradable polythene bags to the Parish Priest Mahendra Gunatilleka to be loaded on to the container at the auspicious time.

"Although newspapers publish various articles proposing the banning or restricting the use of polythene bags and sheets no environmentally safe alternatives are available for Sri Lankans in the event a ban is imposed". Dias said although using paper bags and cloth bags are the two options in case of a ban of normal polythene bags, the paper bags are not water proof and cannot be used to carry heavy weight, while the prices of cloth bags are very high and cannot be used to carry frozen food items.

"Therefore the best option would be the degradable polythene bags as they can be made to degrade through heat sunlight, oxygen and bacteria within a short period," he said.

He said the manufacturing technology of these degradable polythene bags has been tested at the Industrial Technology Institute (Successor to the CISIR) in Sri Lanka according to the American Standards for Testing Materials (ASTM).

"A special master batch (additive) made in USA will to be used to Manufacture degradable polythene bags. Once this additive is mixed with the normal polythene resin and processed, the resulting film or bag degrades like paper or wood", he said.

"However these degradable polythene bags will return to the soil fast and complete the disintegration process," he said.

Director, National Cleaner Production Centre V.R. Sena Peiris thanked the management of Plastic Packaging (Pvt) Ltd for undertaking a challenge to manufacture degradable polythene bags at a crucial moment when the whole world is facing a severe environmental disaster caused by non-degradable polythene.

"As an environmentalist I personally examined the manufacturing process of these degradable polythene and found that these polythene papers are 100 per cent environment friendly as it would degrade within 12 months or less according to the additive used," he said.