WHAT IS BAGASSE?

Do you know what these beautiful lunch boxes with delicious food in the picture are made of? PP polypropylene? PS polystyrene? Or cardboard?

In fact it is made of sugarcane bagasse, which is the waste material from sugar production.

So what is bagasse?

Sugarcane bagasse is 100% natural plant fiber, which is compostable and biodegradble. it is by-product from cane sugar production, kind of natural fiber waste. Sugarcane farming produces approximately 79% of all of the world’s sugar. It means there is a lot of bagasse produced–about 3 tons of bagasse for every 10 tons of sugarcane processed. 

The most common use for bagasse is to burn it as a fuel source. Unfortunately, burning bagasse releases large amounts of CO2, a major greenhouse gas, back into the atmosphere. Bagasse has also seen limited use as animal feed.

If most bagasse is burned or discarded, it wastes resources and pollutes the environment. How to make full use of bagasse, turn waste into treasure and protect the environment? That is, bagasse is made into various things, such as tableware and other products packaging, like electronic products, cosmetic packaging and so on.

The length of bagasse fiber is about 0.65-2.17 mm and the width is 21-28 μm， it is shorter than wood fiber and bamboo fiber, but it is longer than straw and wheat grass fiber. In this case, sugarcane bagasse is the best material to make pulp molded tablewaremore since it has suitable fiber length and well enough to support good hardness of tableware and has more economical than tree and bamboo fiber. 

• Eco-Friendly
  Not all containers made from natural materials are eco-friendly, such as food containers made from paper products. Trees can take several years to grow and mature long enough to be harvested for production. And whereas Sugarcane is a rapidly renewable resource. Sugarcane can regrow completely in just 10 to 18 months, making it a greener alternative to paper and wood. Sugarcane regenerates much faster than trees, so it is easier on the ecosystem as it uses less natural resources to grow and renew.

  Sugarcane is one of the best plants for reducing the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere. This is because of something called carbon sequestration. This means that as sugarcane grows it absorbs CO2 from the air and converts it into biomass. Sugarcane absorbs more CO2 per hectare during its growth than almost any other plant. Researchers have even suggested that expanding the production of sugarcane could reduce global CO2 emissions by as much as 5.2%.

  Furthermore, the production of bagasse paper products is much more efficient, requiring only 1.5 tons of sugarcane pulp to produce 1 ton of bagasse paper versus the 5 tons of wood needed to produce 1 ton of regular paper.

• Compostable
  One of the main advantages of bagasse fiber over other disposable products is that they will not pollute the environment for decades or even centuries to come. Bagasse products instead biodegrade quickly and release no harmful chemicals.

  It biodegrades in 30-60 days. When plant fiber products degrade, they provide natural ingredients back to environment since they are made from natural, organic and renewable materials. Nature plant fiber products are perfect alternatives to petroleum based Styrofoam and plastic products which take thousands of years to degrade.

• Durable and Super Rigid
  Bagasse products are actually remarkably durable. Bagasse fibers are naturally robust, making them highly resistant to grease and moisture. They are microwave safe (unlike most plastic plates) and can easily withstand temperatures up to 220°F, which is hotter than boiling water.