Bagasse pulp-The Best Alternative for Plastic Container

Plastic is the most frequent used material for food service packaging in today’s world, which gradually overwhelmed the earth by its enormous amount. As the speed of burying and burning plastic fail to catch up with production of plastic, we human keep trying to innovate more Eco-friendly material that can be naturally digested by the nature. There comes to bagasse pulp.

What is Bagasse pulp?

Bagasse, also known as sugar cane pulp, is the waste product of sugar cane production: this fibrous waste remains after the juice has been squeezed from the cane sugar stalks. It looks and feels like cardboard or paper.

Why is Bagasse Pulp Eco-friendly?

*Renewable

Bagasse is a sustainable product because it is sourced with very little impact on the environment. It can be easily replenished because the residue can be obtained after every harvest.

*Compostable

The main drawback of Styrofoam is that it never degrades. Plastic is durable but can take up to 400 years to degrade. Bagasses, on the other hand, can biodegrade normally within 90 days. Therefore, it is commonly used by food distributors worldwide.

*Easily Available

Bagasse material can be easily obtained. Sugarcane is a crop with high bio-conversion efficiency and can be harvested in a single season and therefore bagasse can be readily available in due time.

At present, China is the world's third largest sugar producing country. In 2020, sugar cane production in China was 108 million tonnes. The average bagasse fibre content of sugar cane is 8–14%, therefore there are approximately 86.4million tonnes-151.2million tonnes of bagasse available and can be obtained in China every year.

Benefits of Bagasse Disposable Food Containers

• Oven and Microwave save and can be used to reheat food;

• Refrigerator safe and therefore can be used to store food until consumption;

• More durable and firmer than polystyrene containers due to the fibrous texture;

• Have insulation properties that retain heat for a longer time compared to paper and plastic containers;

• Water and grease resistant and therefore are increasingly used by wholesale soft drinks suppliers.

•Eco-friendly alternatives to plastic containers because they are completely compostable;

The catering and hospitality industries have seen a spike in the use of bagasse food containers because of their environment-friendly properties. Their sturdiness and superior thermal properties also have made consumers prefer them over other disposable food containers and tableware.

In the past 2 years, containers are considered as basic needs in life as COVID-19 impacted our daily lifestlye and choice in dining. To consume in a sustainable way involves looking beyond short-term needs and considering the longer term impacts of each purchase. It only takes a single step to make an environmental renaissance.