Father, daughter produce biodegradable ballpoint pens with seeds inside-By Ifham Nizam

Sachini Christina Sugirdan presents an eco-friendly carbon pen she and her father produced to Minister of Environment Mahinda Amaraweera

Source:Island

Nearly 100 kilos of used ballpoint pens are discarded in Sri Lanka on a daily basis and they will take several hundred years to decompose fully, Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera says.

Amaraweera said so when inventor Sachini Kristina Sugirdan yesterday presented a new eco-friendly ballpoint.

The pen introduced by Sachini and her father Sugirdan is a 96 per cent eco-friendly product made of biodegradable materials to prevent environmental damage. The pens come with vegetable and fruit seeds in them.

The invention is completely eco-friendly and it can be grown as a vegetable or fruit plant without having to dispose of empty ballpoint pens.

Amaraweera said used plastic ballpoint pens discarded took at least 100 years to decompose and it had been proved that micro-plastic molecules do not decompose in the soil for about 400 years.

The Minister said that his ministry had introduced special containers to prevent those discarded items from entering the environment, and added that ballpoint pens and toothbrushes would be destroyed with the help of INSEE Cement Company. “But when ballpoint pens are burnt, the carbon dioxide emitted from them pollutes the atmosphere the Minister said.

Speaking on the occasion, Sachini said that she had introduced the product to prevent environmental damage and that the pen could be planted. This pen can be planted. Then you can grow fruits, vegetables and even yams. She added that the pens came with seeds inside them.