Plastic Pakaging (Pte) Limited, a fully Sri Lankan owned company manufacturing Polythene bags and sheets for export received orders for degradable bags from Britain very recently.

Plastic Pakaging (Pte) Limited is a family concern .It is run by Mervyn Dias and his wife Mayuri. It has been a long road the company had to travel to the point of experimenting testing and finally promoting and introducing degradable bags to the export market. The organizations current objective is to manufacture the eco-friendly polythene bags.

Established 13 years ago, the initial period was very difficult. Since capital was limited, the company depended very heavily on bank borrowings .Interest was too high to be competitive in the world market. As a result, in the beginning the Company had to sell locally. In the meantime, the company developed the technique of making very thin bags and sheets that other manufacturers were unable to produce. In fact, when the Chairman, Mervyn Dias went to UK with these thin bags and sheets, he was able to return within a few days with export orders. This was the turning point for the company.

The company has been exporting these bags continuously since 1993. According to the company's new mission statement, the objective now is to introduce degradable bags world-wide. To achieve this objective different additives were experimented with and the degrading mechanism's studied. Bags were manufactured and tested in USA, UK and Sri Lanka. The tests are carried out according to the ASTM standards.

Any plastic can be degraded within a certain time frame by adding the correct dosage to the main resin Prospective Buyers requirements were discussed and samples sent to the buyers according to the life time they required for their products. In return buyers have contacted their respective governments, especially in relation to garbage bags.

In UK the customers request a degradable time requirement of 12-15 months and bags are manufactured to satisfy this requirement