FILE PHOTO: A Cargill logo is pictured on the Provimi Kliba and Protector animal nutrition factory in Lucens, Switzerland, September 22, 2016. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill Inc and Thailand's PTT Global Chemical Pcl announced on Tuesday they will build a biopolymer production facility at a cost of more than $600 million in Thailand.

 

The plant will be built through their joint venture, NatureWorks, and will help meet increasing demand for sustainable materials, PTTGC said in a statement.

 

The manufacturing complex will use about 110,000 tonnes of sugar annually from Thai farmers as a raw material and have an annual biopolymer capacity of 75,000 tonnes. It is due to begin operations in 2024.

 

Its products can be used to make hygiene masks, wiping cloths and food packaging.

 

The investment comes less than a month after PTTGC announced a $4.75 billion acquisition of German coating resins maker Allnex.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-08-10

 

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15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The manufacturing complex will use about 110,000 tonnes of sugar annually from Thai farmers as a raw material

Kiss the environment goodbye then.

This is the most promising bit of news for Thailand I've heard in a long time!  Bio-polymers is just another name for sugar-based plastics, which is renewable and biodegradable.  Sugar based bio-polymers have great potential for medical & health applications and is a forward looking technology that Thailand can enter at the early stages.

It does seem like the products from Thailand would only be basic plastic materials and not cutting-edge, but who wouldn't be glad to know that the billions of face masks being tossed every year will biodegrade or be used for composting?

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Kiss the environment goodbye then.

Going green and reducing plastic production are environmental friendly. Thailand produces around 2.7 million tons of plastic and about 2 million tons are mostly unrecyclable. 

27 minutes ago, Iron Tongue said:

This is the most promising bit of news for Thailand I've heard in a long time!  Bio-polymers is just another name for sugar-based plastics, which is renewable and biodegradable. 

 

That's nice that their products will offer those benefits but will this new mega-plant also be able to positively change the behaviour of their Thai supply chain who currently undertake horrendously polluting sugar crop burning every year ?