GP Plastics Corporation manufactures polyethylene , or Poly Green oxo-biodegradable plastics bags, as an eco-conscious substitute for common plastic bags. Polyethylene is a type of plastic, which is strong enough to be used in a bullet-proof vest and is relatively new to the market.

GP Plastics CEO Mike Skinner notes that, “The domestic newspaper industry uses six to seven billion bags per year. GP manufactures more than one-half of those bags and is working to convert all of them to our PolyGreen product.”

Production of plastic bags is known for requiring large amounts of energy, eventually resulting in a higher demand for power. And unless the manufacturing plant is powered by renewables, fossil fuels will be used, adding to air pollution and climate change. Plastic bags also are rarely recycled, instead disposed of in a landfill adding to waste streams.

Traditional plastic bags may take anywhere from 500 to 1,000 years to biodegrade in landfills. But, the Poly Green bags will degrade with the help of oxygen, solar radiation and heat in a few months (or up to three years, depending on the amount of air exposure the bags receive). After being exposed to air, the polyethylene particles degrade into molecules small enough to be digested by landfill bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms. What remains after then two degradation processes are simply natural elements: water, carbon dioxide, degraded biological materials, biomass, left behind by bacteria, fungi and microorganisms.

To increase their eco-friendliness, GP designed these bags to be recyclable via regular plastic standards, should eco-minded consumers wish to do so. Ink used on the bags, presumably for advertisements, will be water-soluble making the Poly Green bag a super green product.

Similar common plastic bags are also used in other industries such as for pet and commercial food products. For example, similar plastics are used for pet waste clean-up. By converting pet and food plastic bags to biodegradable bags, America could form a healthier relationship with the environment and generate a whole new spin-off industry. 

The newspaper will begin delivering oxo-biodegradable bags to subscribers' homes over the course of the next few weeks.