Biodegradable shopping bag presented in Brussels

Rome – Italian chairman of agricultural organization Coldiretti Sergio Marini has presented a new biodegradable shopping bag at the occasion of a meeting with EU Commissar of agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel. Coldiretti has launched a project in order to substitute all plastic bags with environmental safe ones within 2010.

Marini: “Maize and vegetable oil can be used as raw materials. Half a kg of maize and one kg of sunflower oil can produce up to 100 shopping bags. If we would destine only 1,5% of the total European acreage to this kind of production, we could avoid one million MT plastic bags to be scattered in the environment and we could also spare 700.000 MT of oil.”

According to Coldiretti, almost 100 billion plastic bags are used in Europe each year and their biodegradation time is about 200 years. Marini has offered Mrs. Boel a biodegradable shopper full of “Made in Italy” products, in order to underline the safety of the Italian production as well.

Sergio Marini (chairman of Coldiretti) offers a biodegradable shopping bag to EU Commissioner of agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel

Publication date: February 28 2007
Author: Rossella Gigli
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