Water-absorbing gels are being increasingly used in our daily Lives. Some of these gels are synthesized by modification of starch. They are of the superabsorbing type. The chemical modifications to starch, involved in the synthesis of gels, are likely to present an environmental threat on account of the loss of its inherent biodegradability. Alkali hydrolysed starch-graft-polyacrylonitrile (HSPAN), a starch-based gel, was studied for biodegradability using indigenously isolated bacterial culture. Interestingly, the bacterial culture isolated in the laboratory used HSPAN as the sole source of carbon for its growth and progenesis. The microbial characteristics of the culture were Gram-positive rods with centrally located spores.