Can N Brown’s new bags solve our waste problems?

The consequences of the Black Friday and Christmas online shopping frenzy are bins full of packaging, not all of it recyclable.

But the latest weapon in the fight against mounds of garbage is the transparent Polymax bag, which is said to dissolve immediately in hot water.

It is made from Hydropol, a soluble and biodegradable polymer.

The first major UK retailer to pioneer this environmentally friendly innovation will be online fashion company N Brown, owner of fashion brands JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo.

Sarah Welsh, N Brown’s retail chief executive, said the company would begin using the polymer material for garment bags this month.

The goal is to reduce its use of conventional plastic by 44 percent by the end of 2025.

A naturally dissolving bag sounds great, but does it work? The Financial Mail team put it to the test.

A first attempt with warm water was unsuccessful: instead of disappearing, the bag turned into a slimy mass.

But when we poured boiling water over the bag in a container, the bag disappeared in a matter of seconds, leaving the water almost clear.

Some will find this transformation endlessly entertaining. Those who don’t want to get into hot water can safely dispose of the bag in a blue or green recycling bin. It also biodegrades in landfills.

N Brown says if all clothing retailers globally switched to Polymax, 25 million fewer tonnes of hard-to-recycle conventional packaging would be thrown away each year.