To deal with Thailand’s mounting trash downside, one firm is popping to the nation’s flowers.
Common Biopack makes packaging that it sells to eating places and producers. However moderately than plastic, it makes use of a mix of bamboo and cassava, crops which can be broadly discovered throughout the nation.
After rising quickly in current a long time, Thailand has turn into one among Asia’s largest economies. However like many different international locations within the area, it has been gradual to attempt to fight the thousands and thousands of tons of trash produced annually.
“Waste administration is a giant downside in all places,” mentioned Common Biopack’s managing director, Vara-Anong Vichakyothin.
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The corporate is utilizing a expertise devised at a Bangkok college to make its zero-waste packaging. It hopes it’ll finally substitute most of the Styrofoam bins and plastic baggage that find yourself in enormous rubbish dumps throughout Thailand and different Southeast Asian international locations.
Its eco-friendly system took 5 years to develop and is so adaptable it might find yourself getting used to bundle issues like furnishings and even telephones. The bamboo it makes use of comes from leftover scraps from the chopstick manufacturing course of.
Within the cities of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, the place takeout drink containers and noodle packets line the sidewalks, the corporate provides eating places, natural farmers and different companies within the food and drinks business.
However discovering new purchasers could be tough.
Takeout meals distributors in Thailand wish to hold prices down in a aggressive enterprise with skinny margins. Asking them to spend extra on packaging for environmental causes is a troublesome promote.
“The native financial system nonetheless doesn’t assist [this technology]” mentioned Common Biopack’s founder, Suthep Vichakyothin.
However that hasn’t stopping different corporations from getting into the sustainable packaging market in Thailand. Like Common Biopack, they’re betting on rising environmental consciousness finally resulting in a rise in demand.
To turn into extra aggressive, Suthep’s firm is investing. It is aiming to ramp up manufacturing by constructing {a partially} automated meeting line at its manufacturing unit close to Bangkok and doubling its staffing from 50 individuals to 100.
The purpose is to extend month-to-month capability from 300,000 models to at least one million.
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Numerous the demand comes from abroad. One in all its clients makes use of the pure packaging for coconut water it exports.
Common Biopack says it is also getting curiosity in its merchandise from different international locations, notably in Scandinavia.
CNNMoney (Hong Kong) First revealed February 12, 2017: 9:08 PM ET
