It takes 400 years for a plastic cover to degradeand the first in the world was created in the 60s, that is, that this sheath still remains and that it will take more than 300 years to decompose.
However, in Ecuador have devised a bag made from cassava starch that degrades in between three and six months, and is even compostable.
The initiative arose four years ago at the Cegabag company, according to its shareholder Frederick Astudillo. “This project was brought to him by some businessmen who contacted me about four years ago, and I started looking for someone who wanted to invest in this project. We are now making cassava starch-based casings, a 100% natural product. It does not contain any plastic”, says Astudillo.
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Cegabag is part of the CegaCorp business group. They have a certificate, issued by the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, which guarantees that the covers are non-toxic and plastic-free.
“We bring the starch in the form of pellets, very similar to plastic pellets, but natural. What we do is the same process: it goes to a cutter, sealer and the sleeve comes out”, says Astudillo, adding that vegetable ink is used for printing.
There are two presentations of these covers: one measures 33 x 38 centimeters and the other 33 x 50 cm. They degrade in between three and six months. And, if they are exposed to high temperatures, the process is faster.
“The characteristic that makes this cassava starch cover different from others is that it is self-composting: it does not need to go to a composting center to be destroyed, because you take the cover, for example, put it in hot water and it dissolves in front of your eyes”, says Astudillo, who mentions that the bag is more resistant than a plastic one, because it can support eight kilos at the base.
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“The normal plastic and oxobiodegradable bags continue to contaminate, because they put metal inside the bag so that it oxidizes and degrades, but that goes into the environment and what we are breathing is rust, and it is bad,” says the Cegabag shareholder. .
In addition, Astudillo adds that if the cassava starch-based casing does not break down on land and ends up in the sea, it does not harm any species. “If a whale or dolphin ingests it, nothing will happen to it, because what it is eating is cassava and it is harmless. The same if it remains on the ground: it serves as fertilizer”, he highlights.
Cegabag produces some 300,000 starch bags per month, which is a minimum quantity for the plastic bags used in the country.
And this is what the Ministry of the Environment points out: An Ecuadorian on average consumes a total of 253 plastic bags per year, which represents 3.6 billion bags consumed at a national level, among these, there are t-shirt, roll, garbage covers and others.
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One of Cegabag’s clients is the multinational Herbalife Nutrition. This company in Ecuador has been delivering its products in these cassava starch-based bagsas a pilot plan, from 2020.
And, due to the reception of the users, it decided to migrate 100% from 2022, according to Ximena Traversa, Herbalife Nutrition Ecuador Corporate Communications supervisor.
“In Ecuador we eliminate plastic bags and today we are promoting these covers that the supplier guarantees us are made from cassava starch. All products are delivered with these covers nationwide. And the interesting thing is that they have resistance, because our products are heavy and that customer service is guaranteed”, says Traversa.
Herbalife Nutrition has a presence in more than 90 countries, and the initiative is in Central and South America, specifically in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, where there is a plastic saving of 554 kilograms. Each country has its supplier of cassava starch casings.
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In Ecuador they register a saving of single-use plastic of 40 kilograms per yearand they buy 100,000 units from Cegabag during the twelve months of the year with the presentation of 33 x 50 centimeters.
“This is something that companies must continue to promote in all the audiences where we have contact, for example, independent distributors, the same employees, suppliers. We as a country have much to do; however, these changes add up a lot”, indicates Traversa, who also points out that their jars or containers are recycled through an alliance with Gira, an environmental manager of non-hazardous waste. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
