Made from egg shells, eco-friendly compostable carrier bags are cracking
new kind of compostable carrier bag that is made from the same material as egg shells and has a much lower carbon footprint than plastic, paper and other “biodegradable” bags, has been launched in the UK.
Known as the happy dolphin, the bag is the result of a £4 million EU commission to invent a new kind of plastic substitute to help solve the waste crisis.
Its developers are in discussions with UK supermarkets about using their bag and have signed a deal in Vietnam to supply four billion of them to Seven-11 outlets in the country.
Hundreds of millions are also in circulation in Europe.
“This is a transformational breakthrough in the war on plastic and climate change. It’s the silver bullet with the lowest CO2 emissions and no plastic pollution,” said David Hughes, of Happy Dolphin, based in Wrexham.
Compostable “bio” bags have typically been made from corn starch, sugarcane or cassava and have had a mixed reception. Many can only break down at high temperatures of 55C to 70C and suitable processing facilities are in short supply.
By contrast, the Happy Dolphin bag is made from a newly-created, patented material called Biodolomer; a mixa ture that is 50 per cent calcium carbonate mineral – the dominant ingredient in egg and snail shells – mixed with vegetable oils and sugarcane.
It can break down at normal ambient temperatures in less than a year and can completely biodegrade in less than a day in a commercial composter.
The material is strong, meaning it can be used 50 times over a period of up to two years before it becomes too weak or worn to use. It is also affordable at 25p to 30p, making it comparable to existing supermarket bags-for-life which cost between 20p and 50p.
An independent study commissioned by the EU found the Happy Dolphin bag had less than half the carbon footprint of both normal plastic bags and other biobags – even lower than paper bags – over the course of its life, from manufacture of the pellets that make up the bag to its disposal.