Bio Wrap in Sri Lanka

This is really cool -- Viraj Senewiratne of Sri Lanka has invented a 100% bio-degradable starch wrapping material to replace the plastic bags now banned there. They decompose in 160 days:

January 8, 2007
Polythene ban: Viraj’s degradable substitute from ‘edible’ granules

Sunday Times, Columbo, Sri Lanka

Lunch sheets, sili-sili bags and grocery bags will be taboo in the New Year, under a ban on polythene, with a thickness of 20 microns and below, to be strictly enforced on January 1, 2007...

Bye-bye Sili-silis!

New plastic bags (sili-silis) law kicks into effect in Sri Lanka. It ends with "it's time to pull out your old cane baskets or invest in some handy cloth bags the next time you go shopping":

12/31/06
Wish you a sili-sili-free New Year
Nadia Fazlulhaq, Sunday-Times, Columbo, Sri Lanka

Go to a supermarket today and you will, no doubt, come home with more than half a dozen sili-sili bags containing your purchases. Tomorrow, though, it may be a different story as Sri Lanka takes the significant step of doing away with thin polythene in the New Year...