印度公司製成百分百降解可食用“塑料袋”

大家都知道塑料袋危害環境，但是生活中沒有塑料袋又很不方便。爲此印度研發出了一種環保“塑料袋”，不但可以百分百降解，還可以食用，如果把袋子放在沸水中，只需15秒鐘就會完全分解消失。

In an effort to combat plastic pollution, Indian startup EnviGreen has come up with a combination of natural starch and vegetable oils that looks and feels just like plastic, but is 100 percent organic, biodegradable and eco-friendly. You can even dispose of such a “plastic” bag by eating it.
爲了解決塑料污染問題，印度新興企業EnviGreen用天然澱粉和植物油合成出一種塑料狀的材料，這種純有機材料是百分百可降解的，也絕不會損害環境。你甚至可以通過食用來處理這種“塑料袋”。

EnviGreen founder Ashwath Hedge came up with the idea for these revolutionary bags after seeing people struggling to find alternatives to plastic bags, following bans imposed by several Indian cities.
此前，印度的一些城市頒發了禁塑令，但人們卻很難找到塑料袋的替代品，目睹了這一窘境後，EnviGreen的創始人阿史沃斯•赫奇提出了這一革新性的理念——百分百降解可食用“塑料袋”。

“People were concerned about how they would carry products from the market now. Everyone cannot afford a bag worth Rs. 5 or Rs. 15 to carry a kilogram of sugar,” he told The Better India. So the 25-year-old decided to work on something that would solve this problem while being environment-friendly.
他對印度新聞網站The Better India說：“人們現在關注用什麼方式把商品從超市帶回家。人們並不願爲了一千克糖多花五至十五盧比來買包裝袋。”所以，25歲的赫奇決定研發一種環保材料以解決這個難題。

Hedge spent four years researching and experimenting with various materials, but one day he discovered a combination of 12 ingredients, including potato, tapioca, corn, natural starch, vegetable oil, banana, and flower oil, that looked and felt like plastic, but posed none of the environmental problems.
赫奇用了4年時間去研究測試不同的材料，直到有一天，他發現用土豆、木薯、穀物、天然澱粉、植物油、香蕉和花油等12種原料混合在一起可以製作出一種新材料，這種材料的外形和觸感都很像塑料，但卻不會引起任何環境問題。

The manufacturing process is obviously a closely-guarded secret, but the young entrepreneur did reveal that the raw materials are first converted into liquid form, and then taken through a six-stage process to create the bags.
該材料的製作過程現在還是商業祕密，但赫奇透露稱，他們會將原料先處理成流體，然後分六個階段最終制成成品。

The cost of an EnviGreen bag is about 35% higher than that of a plastic bag, but the benefits of using the former are more than worth the extra cost. Once discarded, EnviGreen bags biodegrade naturally in less than 180 days, and if placed in water at room temperature, they dissolve in less than a day. For quick disposal, they can be placed in boiling water, and they dissolve in about 15 seconds.
雖然EnviGreen研發的購物袋成本比一般的塑料袋高出35%左右，但它帶來的利益遠遠大於其額外成本。此款購物袋被丟棄後，可以在6個月之內完全自然降解；如果將它們放置在室溫的水中，它們則會在一天內溶解消失。而如果將袋子放在沸水中的話，則分解得更快，大概只需要15秒。

“We don’t use any chemicals at all. Even the paint used for printing on the bags is natural and organic,” Ashwath boasts. That not only means that users can discard them without hurting the environment, but also that animals can safely ingest them.
赫奇說：“我們沒有使用任何化學原料。就連袋子上的圖案都是由自然有機的塗料繪成的。” 這不止能防止丟棄的袋子污染環境，還能避免動物因誤食普通塑料袋而陷入危險。

In fact, EnviGreen “plastic” bags are edible, something that Hedge was more than happy to demonstrate in his interview with The Better India. He simply soaked a bag in water and gulped it down with a smile on his face.
事實上，EnviGreen的“塑料袋”是可食用的，在The Better India的採訪中，赫奇對這一點頗爲自豪。他簡單地用水浸溼袋子，然後面帶微笑地將其吞了下去。

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has already approved EnviGreen bags for commercial use, but not before conducting a series of tests. They found that despite their appearance and texture, they contain no plastic, and don’t share its hazardous properties. When burned, the innovative material does not melt, drip, or release any toxic fumes.
經過一系列測試後，卡納塔克邦州污染控制委員會批准EnviGreen袋上市出售。測試發現，儘管這種袋子外形和結構與塑料很像，但它不含任何塑料成分和有毒物質。EnviGreen袋在燃燒過程中也不會溶解，滴落或是釋放有毒氣體。

EnviGreen has set up a factory in Bangalore, where it produces around 1,000 metric tonnes of eco-friendly “plastic” bags a month. That’s not very much, considering that the city of Bangalore alone consumes over 30,000 metric tonnes of plastic bags every month, but Hedge claims that he wants to set up enough production facilities before they start distributing to individual customers and shop owners. They have however started supplying the bags to corporate retail chains like Metro and Reliance.
EnviGreen已在班加羅爾建了一家工廠，每月可生產1000公噸的環保“塑料袋”。僅班加羅爾一座城市每月就會消費超過三萬公噸的塑料袋，與此相比1000公噸並不算多。現在，他們僅爲麥德龍和裏萊恩斯等連鎖零售集團提供EnviGreen袋。但赫奇表示，他希望先擁有足夠強的生產能力，再讓這些“塑料袋”走向普通消費者和經營者。

Apart from protecting the environment, Ashwath Hedge also plans to use EnviGreen bags to support local farmers. “We had this unique idea of empowering farmers in rural Karnataka by sourcing all our raw materials from them,” he said. “We are also planning to distribute seeds to help them produce the amount of materials required to make the bags.”
除了保護環境，赫奇還計劃用EnviGreen袋支持當地的農民。“我們希望通過從卡納塔克的農民那裏採購所需的原材料，來幫助他們致富，”赫奇說，“我們還計劃爲農民提供種子，以保證我們有足夠的原材料來生產袋子。”

According to the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, over 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste is generated in India every day, only 9,000 of which are collected and processed. Inventions like EnviGreen can help solve this problem, so let’s hope it lives up to its potential.
環境、森林與氣候變化部部長稱，在印度，每天廢棄的塑料袋超過15000噸，然而其中只有9000噸被回收和處理。類似EnviGreen袋的發明有利於解決塑料污染問題，希望它能蓬勃發展。