Street Food Vendors in Thailand Going Green with Zero-Waste Packaging Made from Bamboo

 

BANGKOK – To tackle Thailand’s mounting trash problem, Universal Biopack is turning to the country’s plant life to make packaging that it sells to restaurants and manufacturersrather than plastic.

 

Universal Biopack is using a mixture of bamboo and cassava, crops that are widely found across the country.

 

After growing rapidly in recent decades, Thailand has become one of Asia’s biggest economies. But like many other countries in the region, it’s been slow to try to combat the millions of tons of trash produced each year.

 

“Waste management is a big problem everywhere,” said Universal Biopack’s managing director, Vara-Anong Vichakyothin.

 

Full story: http://www.chiangraitimes.com/street-food-vendors-in-thailand-going-green-with-zero-waste-packaging-made-from-bamboo.html

 

-- © Copyright Chiang Rai Times 2017-02-14

An excellent idea, what remain to be seen is if the food vendors will take to it

and change the many, many years of using plastic wrappings and bags,

and of course, the cost has to be right too to entice them to switch,

but knowing Thai people, I don't hold much hope for this invention....

 

 

Bamboo containers are 2.6 thb each...Styrofoam 1.45....selling at 30 thb for a container of food, that is a pretty big hit on their profit.  No doubt, would be nice to cut down on the trash piles....

And I had hope this would be a serious article!!!

 

Waited 30 seconds for the adblock blocking for nothing... again

 

This is such fantastic innovation by the Thai factory boss and his workers. It defeats me that the powers that be aren't singing about it from the rooftop and how even now after all the bad press about plastic / styrofoam waste problems that there is ZERO being done to expand the use of such a wonderful alternative product.

Anything that helps reduce human throw away mentality has to be good, being pro active 

in using such items is problematic in changing peoples attitude, 

Wishing Thailand could export this product  to Arab countries, 

as they sorely need readjustment in their litter disposal.

 

I would love to live in a country where everyone demanded such an attractive, natural, environmentally friendly product. It's just very well done and getting Thai food in such containers would be exquisite. But when I look around I get a reality check that absolutely no one cares about such things. My area doesn't even have garbage pick up and no one even wants it; everyone burns plastic and litters everywhere. If you substituted this and the people find it doesn't burn as well as plastic then seriously they would frown on it and see it as a step in the wrong direction. Good luck to this company. I think they'll need to win on cost rather than features for it to be successful and that seems a pretty tough job.

 

It's only zero waste if it is composted. If it is disposed of in a bin, it's still waste.

Please wait.... I haven't mastered how to remove the elastic band from the plastic bags, yet.

 

 

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Street Food Vendors in Thailand

...and they both agreed to this campaign?

3 hours ago, leeneeds said:

Anything that helps reduce human throw away mentality has to be good, being pro active 

in using such items is problematic in changing peoples attitude, 

Wishing Thailand could export this product  to Arab countries, 

as they sorely need readjustment in their litter disposal.

 

Always best to start at home. 

 

i'll believe it when i see it.

 

the food vendors could stop pouring liquid waste containing cooking fat straight into the drain... as well as stopping sweeping rubbish straight into the drain... and then wondering why the road floods when it rains.

 "To tackle Thailand’s mounting trash problem, Universal Biopack is turning to the country’s plant life to make packaging that it sells to restaurants and manufacturersrather than plastic."

 

It's already started. I bought a bottle of soda water at 7-eleven and they only gave me 4 straws along with the plastic bag, instead of the usual 6. At this rate, it should take no time at all to achieve zero waste. That is if "time" is measured in units of 12 lifetimes.

If it's as evironmentally friendly as claimed here, this company could be on to a real winner! 

The last of the food vendors in my neck of the woods have only just progressed from using banana leaves as packaging to Styrofoam & plastic bags.....

Tourists would not mind paying that little bit extra, Thais, not so sure.

If successful it would be a huge step forward.

5 hours ago, z42 said:

This is such fantastic innovation by the Thai factory boss and his workers. It defeats me that the powers that be aren't singing about it from the rooftop and how even now after all the bad press about plastic / styrofoam waste problems that there is ZERO being done to expand the use of such a wonderful alternative product.

All the gov't has to do is outlaw all plastic food containers....................and plastic bags. In some foreign countries where this has been enacted i rather enjoy carrying my folded cloth bag for trips to the markets.

I think this is a fantastic idea.

Need to educate food vendors about the problems plastics cause.

Also it needs to be priced so as to entice vendors to change.

 

I saw something similar during Loy  Kratong where beautiful Kratongs had been made of bio degradable materials including ice cream cones. The use of polystyrene was diminishing.  Well done! 

20 minutes ago, colinneil said:

I think this is a fantastic idea.

Need to educate food vendors about the problems plastics cause.

Also it needs to be priced so as to entice vendors to change.

 

Need to educate foreign tourists about the problems of plastic, especially from Africa and the Middle East. 

30 minutes ago, catinthehat said:

All the gov't has to do is outlaw all plastic food containers....................and plastic bags. In some foreign countries where this has been enacted i rather enjoy carrying my folded cloth bag for trips to the markets.

Yes I like carrying soup in a cloth bag. 

I would gladly pay 1-2B more or these containers if

 all styrofoam was outlawed. 

Impose a tax on Styrofoam products to make this idea competitive and it may work.

On 2/14/2017 at 10:21 AM, samsensam said:

 

i'll believe it when i see it.

 

the food vendors could stop pouring liquid waste containing cooking fat straight into the drain... as well as stopping sweeping rubbish straight into the drain... and then wondering why the road floods when it rains.

 

I will also believe it when I see it. On that note if anybody spots some of these elusive bags please take a picture and post it. I certainly haven't spotted any.