Biodegradable plastic bags in Costa Rica has increased significantly in the last three years

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Biodegradable plastic bags in Costa Rica has increased significantly in the last three years as a result of an intensified climate conservation campaign across the country and in Central America.

Consumers are now purchasing disposable and environment friendly plastic containers, bags and bottles. Such products are gaining ground in less than three years after the technology came in the market, said Silvia Vega, CEO of Milenio Tres, distributor of D2W technology used to convert plastics into degradable material.

Although biodegradable products make up less than 10 percent of all plastics on the market in the Central American country, the trend is towards continued rapid growth, she said.

The increased use of 'green' products in Costa Rica is part of a worldwide trend; among other Central American countries that have embraced oxo-biodegradable plastics are El Salvador and Guatemala.

According to Milenio Tres, close to 220 million tonnes of plastic is produced annually worldwide and approximately 20 million tonnes of plastic debris end up in rivers and oceans.

The company also estimates that 90 percent of the plastic made since 1930 remains somewhere on the planet as rubbish without decomposing, polluting earth, air and water.

International environmental watchdogs say nearly one million seabirds die annually from ingesting plastic, while turtles in oceans all over the world mistake floating plastic bags and sheets for jellyfish and choke to death.

In Costa Rica, roughly 4,500 tonnes of urban solid waste is produced every day. Of them, approximately 30 percent ends up in rivers and oceans.

Oxo-biodegradable plastic is anywhere from between five percent and 10 percent more expensive to manufacture, Vega said, but there are ways to bring that cost down.

'In reality, this cost is nothing compared to the environmental benefit of having waste that will decompose instead of accumulating on the planet for decades,' Vega said.

D2W technology is used in more than 90 countries and has been approved in accordance with international guidelines, including those of the US Food and Drug Administration