Non poluting Water soluble bags

Replacing oil by limestone, a group of Chilean entrepreneurs have managed to manufacture plastic bags and reusable cloth which are water soluble and do not pollute.

Roberto Astete and Cristian Olivares, the two architects of this product, began with experiments to manufacture biodegradable detergent, but at the end they found the chemical formula based on PVA (polyvinyl alcohol, soluble in water) and which replaces petroleum derivatives , the cause of the indestructibility of plastics that have been integrated into the food chain of animals that inhabit the oceans and deteriorate the environment .

"Our product is derived from a limestone that does not harm the environment," said Astete, CEO of the company SoluBag, which expects to market its products from October in Chile, one of the first countries in Latin America to ban the use of Conventional plastic bags by shops.

"This is like making bread," he adds. "To make bread you need flour and other components. Our flour is polyvinyl alcohol and other components, approved by the FDA which has allowed us to make the products "

Before the press, both show the immediate solubility of their plastic bags in cold water or reusable cloth bags in hot water. "What remains in the water is carbon," says Astete, and medical tests have shown that "it has no effect on the human body."

And to prove that the water that remained is "safe" and drinkable, they drank some of the water.

"The big difference between traditional plastic and ours, is that it will be between 150 and 500 years in the environment and ours only takes five minutes. You decide when you destroy it, "he says.

The formula allows to make any plastic material so they are already working in the manufacture of cutlery, plates or containers.

The initiative has won the SingularityU Chile Summit 2018 prize as a catalyst for change, which has earned them an internship for inventors in Sillicon Valley starting in September.