CU develops zero-waste paper cups to be used as seed pots

[webfact]

CU develops zero-waste paper cups to be used as seed pots

By THE NATION

 

 

Chulalongkorn University (CU) is collaborating with Royal Forest Department (RFD) in developing paper cups coated with bioplastic to be used as pots for seedlings replacing the plastic seedling bags currently used in order to preserve the environment and reduce waste.

 

Prof Dr Boonchai Sathitmannaitham, deputy rector of Chulalongkorn University, has said that the university has been working with Royal Forest Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to produce paper beverage cups coated with bioplastic that degrade in the soil to serve as seedling pots. “We’ve called them the ‘zero-waste cups’ and they can be used in reforestation without leaving any harmful waste, while at the same time help reduce waste in the university, whose 17 cafeterias produce a large amount of waste daily,” he said.

 

 

The zero-waste cup is one of the products developed by Centre of Excellence on Petrochemical and Materials Technology (PETROMAT), a research subsidiary of Chulalongkorn University.

 

The MOU signing ceremony between the two organizations was held at the university on Tuesday (October 29) and chaired by CU deputy rector and Poramin Wongsuwat, RFD deputy director-general.

 

 

CU is also launching the “Chula Zero Waste” campaign to urge students and staff to employ the 3Rs principle (reduce, reuse, recycle) to manage waste in the university. The zero-waste cups will play a central role by replacing plastic cups in all campus cafeterias.

 

“The used zero-waste cups will be separated from other wastes in CU and later transported to RFD, who will use them as seedling pots for forest planting throughout Thailand,” said Boonchai. “The cups wholly biodegrade within 4-6 months, leaving behind nothing but soil improvement substances.”

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30377918

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-10-31

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[leeneeds]

Well done,

[canuckamuck]

Brilliant.

[xylophone]

Two or three years back, a guy in New Zealand developed something similar which also could be used in packaging foodstuffs, to replace the plastic containers seen everywhere in supermarkets, for example.

 

These containers were made up of some sort of potato starch or similar and naturally degraded over time, however I have not seen anything about them of late, so I wonder what has happened to them?

[FarFlungFalang]

Great now we can cut down even more trees to make product like these or we could make growing hemp legal to make these then it might be beneficial to the environment.

[digger70]

7 hours ago, xylophone said:

Two or three years back, a guy in New Zealand developed something similar which also could be used in packaging foodstuffs, to replace the plastic containers seen everywhere in supermarkets, for example.

 

These containers were made up of some sort of potato starch or similar and naturally degraded over time, however I have not seen anything about them of late, so I wonder what has happened to them?

Not enough spuds to keep it going?

[xylophone]

18 minutes ago, digger70 said:

Not enough spuds to keep it going?

May well have been potato peelings for the trial, but I think other similar types of starch/material would do (taro root, turnip, swede etc......).

 

I thought it was a good solution to plastic waste.

[Fred white]

7 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Great now we can cut down even more trees to make product like these or we could make growing hemp legal to make these then it might be beneficial to the environment.

In the US tree farming is a big thing it replaces the trees cut down for paper and building materials

[HOAX]

7 minutes ago, Fred white said:

In the US tree farming is a big thing it replaces the trees cut down for paper and building materials

Same in Europe (or the most developed countries at least), but I still bet more trees are cut down than planted overall, though nature makes up for some of the losses. While we certainly could do more, we do something about it, which is great, but thats only LOCALLY. Very much of the products we get from trees comes from South America and Asia as it is far cheaper to produce, which include an incredible amount of products ranging from medicine to paper and glue to food and food additives, even far more wooden products you'd like to think. There we take very little responsibility, other than just handing out a few billions to corruption and say a few useless magic words in thin air.

[FarFlungFalang]

46 minutes ago, Fred white said:

In the US tree farming is a big thing it replaces the trees cut down for paper and building materials

Well 1 acre of hemp in 6 months will make the same amount as 4 acres of trees in 20 plus years so you let 3 acres of land return to a natural state fore ever without losing production and building products are made from hemp including construction grade beams and it also makes the best insulating wall material that greatly reduces energy for both heating and cooling it's really no contest and hemp was also a big thing in the US.It can also be used to make cars as well as bio diesel to run the cars you make with it.  

[Dumbastheycome]

8 hours ago, xylophone said:

Two or three years back, a guy in New Zealand developed something similar which also could be used in packaging foodstuffs, to replace the plastic containers seen everywhere in supermarkets, for example.

 

These containers were made up of some sort of potato starch or similar and naturally degraded over time, however I have not seen anything about them of late, so I wonder what has happened to them?

In too many  cases  if this  individual developed a product  under funding derived  from  the US such as a University then all Intellectual property rights  belong to the off shore  subsidizing interests despite the individual  also paying "tuition" fees. The well established  scam of  "private  " Education. So  such products  get shelved for as long as  existing  profitable acceptable ones exist.

In the event f  resistance  to the  original  a  "new" product" is introduced despite it

being held  back  for maybe  decades. And also at a  marginally higher cost in  compensation for  socially  conned approval !

[canopy]

Disappointing it is partly made of plastic. It could have been made from all natural materials and so why are they experimenting with the plastic hybrid nonsense? Before anyone pats each other on the back too firmly, keep this in mind:

 

A recent study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found that biodegradable plastics don’t break down any faster than their conventional counterparts

 

This thing is simply a plastic garbage gimmick to litter the forests with. And never mind that the production of these plastics also heavily pollutes the earth, best not talk about such facts. I guess a well thought out solution from the developing world is expecting too much. PLASTIC is the answer? Give me a break.

 

[Fred white]

22 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Well 1 acre of hemp in 6 months will make the same amount as 4 acres of trees in 20 plus years so you let 3 acres of land return to a natural state fore ever without losing production and building products are made from hemp including construction grade beams and it also makes the best insulating wall material that greatly reduces energy for both heating and cooling it's really no contest and hemp was also a big thing in the US.It can also be used to make cars as well as bio diesel to run the cars you make with it.  

And when you get board you can always smoke it ????

[FarFlungFalang]

2 hours ago, Fred white said:

And when you get board you can always smoke it ????

And for extra strength just smear on some THC oil bought legally.

[FarFlungFalang]

On 10/31/2019 at 8:20 PM, canopy said:

Disappointing it is partly made of plastic. It could have been made from all natural materials and so why are they experimenting with the plastic hybrid nonsense? Before anyone pats each other on the back too firmly, keep this in mind:

 

A recent study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found that biodegradable plastics don’t break down any faster than their conventional counterparts

 

This thing is simply a plastic garbage gimmick to litter the forests with. And never mind that the production of these plastics also heavily pollutes the earth, best not talk about such facts. I guess a well thought out solution from the developing world is expecting too much. PLASTIC is the answer? Give me a break.

 

Is there a distinction between biodegradable plastic and bio-plastic made from natural sources like hemp and other cellulose materials that you know of?