by Gorky Bakshi
The biggest challenge that the world and the environmentalists are facing is related to the disposal of plastic bags. Since plastic bags are the most inconvenient and non-biodegradable components on earth, the environmentalists across the globe have been working hard to reduce its use by motivating people to replace it with cotton and paper bags. A resident of East of Kailash and businessman by occupation JS Chadha, introduced eco-friendly carry bags that can provide some relief to the environment from plastic bags. These bags are made of starch, which is, completely biodegradable.
Government of Delhi has banned the use of plastic carry bags from the main markets, malls and big hotels. The government bodies have been promoting the use of biodegradable plastic carry bags, but it needs more awareness among the public.
What is this?
“The most intelligent solution to this dilemma is to replace plastics with material made of renewable component such as plants. If the material is made from cereals, a renewable resource, produced naturally, it also becomes sustainable. It helps in two- ways as cereal plants enrich the soil, when decomposed,” said JS Chadha. Biolice is a biodegradable material that is made from whole cereal grains. It is also an alternate for the petroleum industry. However, JS Chadha uses starch from Biolice to make plastic bags. “I introduced these starch made bags in East of Kailash market. People have accepted the use of it but, but I hope the increased use will take place only when more people understand its utility.”
He claims that starch-bags are 100 percent compostable. It’s the only safe alternative to plastic. JS Chadha said: “This is the only one product that is guaranteed to compost when in contact with the soil or water bodies, within a maximum of three months.”
Why starch?
JS Chadha believes that other alternatives like paper and jute bags are not completely eco-friendly. “Why do we forget that paper use is more devastating, as it consumes the entire forest. It is not eco-friendly. Same thing is with jute bags, they have to cut tonnes of jute to produce some amount of bags. Also, the papermaking process itself is polluting, as it uses strong chemicals which need to be discharged somewhere. Paper’s energy footprint is very strong and it is polluting more than plastics,” said Chadha.
How he got this idea to make bags from starch? Mr Chadha tells: “I am a keen observer and I realised that eco-friendly products are not entirely eco-friendly. I started searching for a component which can be totally eco-friendly and did not harm the nature. After researching for long and meeting many people I introduced these bags.”
Valuable
These bags can carry weight according to its size, which is available from 5 kg to 10 kg range. JS Chadha started this project in Delhi, but due to lack of technical support and financial aids he took the help of Truegreen- an NGO that now helps him in production. He is distributing these bags free of cost in market, as its commercial value will increase only when its demand increases. “It was just introduced in the market, if market gives me a good response then I will add a cost to it,” said Chadha.