PERSHORE enviro-company Biopac has an answer to the ‘bad guy’ plastic bag.

Made from 100 per cent waste potato starch, the new Biopac Good Bag rots down completely and safely turns into healthy compost in just 12 weeks if put on a compost heap.

It can also be discarded in domestic food-waste bins and collected by refuse operators.

The bags ultimately turn into carbon dioxide, water and non-toxic raw materials.

The company says the product exposes the consumer myth about so-called environmentally friendly bags where the terms degradable and biodegradable are misleadingly promoted with false connotations.

This is because those bags leave behind a mountain of indigestible smaller pieces of toxic fragmented plastic that takes years to break down and may not be safe for soil, waterways and animals.

The Good Bag was a key player in the success of the recent Gloucester Road Alternative Bag Campaign initiative in Bristol. More than 50 businesses signed up to a pledge where pioneering local residents and traders hope to phase out regular plastic bags in favour of alternatives that can be reused and composted.

So far, shoppers seem to be willing to change their behaviour.

During the trial, one retailer went from giving out 1,000 plastic bags per week to selling 150 paid-for compostable bags in one week.

Biopac was established in 2001 to market and create a range of biodegradable and compostable packaging materials and products. This initiative was created in response to the increasing environmental concerns by major UK retailers.