Avesthagen launches biodegradable plastic

Mumbai, Apr 8 (UNI) India's leading knowledge-based life sciences company Avesthagen and its joint venture partner Limagrain today announced the launch of eco-friendly and biodegradable ''plastic'' for the Indian market.

The biodegradable plastic is manufactured using a unique process from whole cereal grains, mainly wheat, maize and a number of specific Limagrain varieties.

The product's innovation lies in the combination of cereal fractions with a biodegradable polymer. Unlike the usual non-degradable plastic material, this alternate plastic introduced by Avesthagen and Limagrain, breaks down and becomes compost in a matter of 120 days in industrial composting conditions, the company said in a release.

This innovative biodegradable plastic is the country's first product aimed to curb white pollution and the hazards of environmental pollution.

Alternate biodegradable materials are the need of the hour to curb the unimaginable pollution caused by way of plastic bags and other plastic films which stay in the ecology for hundreds of years strangulating cattle and destroying ecology.

With an annual usage of over 150 million tonnes of non-degradable plastic, the 20th century may well be called the ''Plastic Age''.

Further, as most non-degradable plastic used was from non-renewable resources such as petroleum, the increased consumption of plastic increases the reliance on imported oil as well.

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