Enlargement of demand for eco-friendly containers in food service industry··· Localization of PLA material is urgent

[Photo provided = imagetoday]

Plastic containers are commonly used for packaging since it is light solid and cheap. Like this there is an advantage but it is sure that there is environmental fault too. The effect of endocrine disruptors through chemmical materials to body is obviously not good at all. There are some containers made to reduce the use of plastic and plastic materials with plasticizer.

It is a Bio-degradable PLA eco-friendly plastic package container. Bio-degradable PLA fiber is called “A well-blended fiber to earth environment.” It is receiving attention since it has been raised as an alternative to plastics that solved environmental issues. Bio-degradable fiber can be understood as “A decomposable fiber due to enzyme secreted from microorganism in the natural world.”

PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) is a plant-derived biodegradable material. It is an eco-friendly resin made of a material extracted from cornstarch. It is the same characteristic as plastics but 100% biodegradable material by microorganism in disposal.

Bio-degradable plastic is a completely throwawayable plastic that is decomposable by microorganism such as bacteria algae or mold in nature to water and carbon dioxide or water and methane gas. Mostly cornstarch is used and ‘Aliphatic Polyesters’ replace nonbiodegradable benzene ring in ‘Aromatic Polyester (Mostly used for clothes)’ with hydrocarbon and completely biodegrade in nature environment.

To put it simply it can be understood that it is harmless to human body since it dissolves. A plastic container made of eco-friendly bio-degradable PLA is 100% natural grains product that is dissolved in microorganism in the soil and industrial compost facilities and it is safe from toxic substance such as endocrine disruptors in common synthetic resins. It meets both environmental issues which is a latest social trend and consumers’ concerns about toxic substance also suitable for the eco-friendly regulation standards from the government.

Correct usage habit of plastic containers are as follows. Use glass containers for long-term storage of meal oil hot food and using microwave and discard worn away containers or products. Reuse of plastic water bottles multiple time is not good.

The demand for bio-degradable disposable products used in domestic food and restaurant markets has been increased after COVID-19 it is urgent of localization of PLA materials. According to PLA disposable product manufacturing industry bio-degradable disposable products are made of PLA materials imported sugar cane from South America rice straws from China and corns from the U.S..

The biggest sticking points in localization of PLA materials is to secure domestic raw materials.

The raw materials are rice and wheat straws after harvest and threshing leaves discard from potatoes and sweet potatoes and weeds. To produce PLA raw materials these should be gathered but the costs is increased in this process.

The industry official said “Localization of PLA materials is not far away if we can purchase by-products after finishing farming and agricultural produces lost their commercial value due to commercial value” and added “The effect that we can gain from using bio-degradable food containers are not only about prevention of environmental pollution such as soil and water pollution but also about carbon dioxide emission due to incineration of straws and additional income for farming families.”

The food container manufacturing companies using PLA materials are REWIND Inc. KBF Hanseo Micron and Korea PLA Co.. The client companies using PLA material product have been dispersed to SPC Group Shilla Hotel Hung Rui Chen and BGF retail.

Website: : http://www.wip-news.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=6077