A headache pill inspired my dissolving poo bags

Taking a headache pill gave George Greer the inspiration to make a benignant of poo container that dissolves successful water.

He had been retired for a locomotion astatine a Scottish loch days before, and had been shocked astatine however galore integrative canine discarded bags had washed up onto its banks.

That got the 49-year-old trying to deliberation of a solution to the problem.

Then the headache medicine started him wondering however the dissolving portion of the tablet worked - and if helium could usage the aforesaid worldly successful bags.

Mr Greer, who lives successful Edinburgh, said helium had felt "shocked" for days aft seeing the messiness portion walking astatine Loch Long successful Argyll with his four-year-old Swiss Shepherd, Noah.

"It was truly bothering maine and past a fewer days aboriginal erstwhile I was taking a dissolving headache pill I had the idea."

He discovered that the material, which coated the pills, had been invented successful the 1920s. He past tracked down a shaper successful China.

He asked his friend, Ka Ho Wong, an archaeologist who could talk Cantonese, to liaise with the supplier to spot if helium could bargain the worldly - and if it could beryllium turned into poo bags.

After 12 months, the poo bags had been created and the prototype had been made.

The 2 men started up Project Harmless, and Mr Greer has present fixed up his occupation arsenic a merchandise decorator to tally the company.

They started selling the bags successful April connected the website and person partnered up with the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home and American Express. Project Harmless has present been moving with immoderate large section stores successful England.

Derek Stewart-Brown, of the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home, said: "We effort to beryllium arsenic environmentally alert arsenic imaginable and thing we tin bash to trim our discarded is important to us.

"I deliberation this is simply a fantastic Scottish innovation and we are delighted to enactment it."

Environmental activistic Laura Young said she had looked into the merchandise and thought the Project Harmless bags were the astir sustainable connected the market.

"Brands of canine poo bags that are compostable oregon biodegradable successful 1 mode are amended than integrative bags due to the fact that they don't usage fossil substance products," she said.

"However, these bags request truly circumstantial conditions to breakdown arsenic intended.

"In mentation they (the different bags) should enactment but successful signifier they're not rather there."

The Project Harmless bags outgo much than different products, being sold astatine £15.50 for 100 bags.

The cheapest poo bags successful supermarkets outgo astir £1.50 for 100. Mr Greer said these often accidental they are degradable, but this process takes astir 500 years.

Mr Greer said: "Some radical accidental they are expensive, but inexpensive bags are evil for the planet. The authorities should beryllium banning them.

"Poo bags travel astatine a outgo due to the fact that they devastate the earth."

He said that biodegradable ones request airy and oxygen to degrade, which they bash not get if they are sent to landfill.

And helium said plant-based compostable bags would lone interruption down successful precise circumstantial conditions.

"They are often marketed arsenic the astir eco option, but if they are not disposed of decently and alternatively sent to landfill from a mean bin, past they don't person the vigor oregon nitrogen to interruption them down," helium said.

Mr Greer said this meant that they took decades to interruption down, portion besides giving disconnected methane - a cardinal operator of planetary warming.

His bags are made from non-toxic and microplastic-free material, and are water-reactive alternatively than water-resistant.

The liquid successful poo causes the container to suffer its structural integrity, and they besides disintegrate if they extremity up successful rivers oregon the sea.

It is not recommended to flush them down the toilet, arsenic they initially stay intact for respective days successful acold water.

The bags dissolve much rapidly successful lukewarm water, but are designed to beryllium robust capable to beryllium near successful a bin for respective days.

However, aft astir six days they would commencement to disintegrate.

"There is simply a batch of authorities enactment to halt buying bags, which tin beryllium recycled, but you can't recycle a poo bag," added Mr Greer.

"This is truly breathtaking and I truly judge successful it.

"We are told present not to usage integrative buying bags conscionable erstwhile astatine the supermarket, but cipher talks astir canine poo bags and the effect of them connected the environment."