Could this 'biodegradable bag' cut plastic pollution?
By Angus CrawfordBBC News
Plastic bags that biodegrade to nothing. It sounds like one solution to the problems of plastic pollution.
One British company that makes so-called "Oxo-biodegradable" bags said they break down in the environment "in the same way as a leaf, only quicker".
The technology is now being widely used across Africa and the Middle East.
But if it's so good, why has the EU Parliament passed a directive preventing Oxo products from being described as biodegradable? And why is the EU Commission considering a total ban?
Michael Laurier, the chief executive of Symphony Environmental, the biggest producer of Oxo products in the UK, points to a white plastic carrier bag with his company logo printed across it.
"This is an insurance policy," he says.
Symphony makes an additive called d2w, which contains a mixture of salts that is added to raw plastic in the factory.
The firm says within two years, and as long as oxygen is present, a plastic bag containing d2w will turn into something with "a different molecular structure".
"It will biodegrade in the open environment," it claims on its website.
"If you do just drop it in the ocean, we've shown that versus non-degradable products that it degrades and biodegrades an awful lot faster than conventional plastics," Mr Laurier says.
