Eco- friendly plastic

The use of cheap plastic bags, almost everywhere on all occasions, has created enough nuisance, as far as the environment is concerned. Most of these plastic bags are biodegradable, and hence, not liked by friends of the environment.But now there is hope for eco-friendly plastic. Due to advanced technology, some of the abundant corn in USA is already being converted into environmental friendly plastic and fibres, for use in products ranging from mattress pads and golf shirts to soda cups and minidisk wrappers. Corn plastics are being developed by Cargill Dow LLC at its plant outside Blair. First of all, refined corn sugar is converted into a substance called Polylactide. The sugar is fermented and distilled to extract carbon. It may be noted that carbon is the basic ingredient of commercial plastic. It takes about a month for plastic bags made from corn to degrade in a compost.On the other hand an oil based plastic bag could take centuries to decompose.It is true that today, biodegradable corn plastics are more expensive than traditional plastics. However, it becomes very useful and practical, this new eco-friendly industry will also become cheaper.