Bio-plastic bag boom 'imminent'

edie news centre -(8 March 2007)

'Eco-plastic bags' are about to get greener with a new process that replaces petrol derivatives with sunflower oil. The new material will make its entry just as vegetable-derived plastic market is set to rocket, with both France and Italy soon to ban single-use non-biodegradable bags.

'Supply will become an issue. The market is expanding very rapidly,' said Tony Breton of Novamont, one of the world's biggest bio-polymer producers. Speaking at the IWWE environmental show in Dublin this week, he added: 'In the past the core markets have been Italy, Germany, France and Holland, but in the last 18 months or so the rest of the world seems to have woken up to biodegradable bags and compostable rubbish collections.' "