PALM FIBRE PACKAGING---

Plastic food packages

Issues with Packaging• Pollution– With decreasing capacity for waste disposal, trash

ends up contaminating ecosystems, such as waterways.

Climate ChangeAssociated with the green house gas intensity of

product manufacturing Natural Resource Depletion

Scarcity of raw materials, many of which are used in the production of plastics, such as oil, natural gas, coal, and agriculture

Issues with Packaging

Waste CreationIssues of capacity for garbage disposal

Dangers to Human HealthConcerns over the toxicity of different

source materials

Strategies of sustainable packaging

• Manufacture with renewable and compostable materials.

• Design for re use, recycle,.• Eliminate toxic.• Reduce volume of materials.

Effect of non degradable packages• Contaminated Ground Water• Long-term exposure to air, light and water can cause synthetic materials like

plastic to emit toxic pollutants. • Plastics, which are petroleum-based, contain toxins that can leach into

water supplies. • Biphenyl A--a chemical used in water bottles, food containers and hard

plastics--leach into foods and water over time and are carcinogenic, cause insulin resistance and interfere with conception.

• Out gassing• Plastic pollutes the air in much the same way it taints water supplies.

Constant exposure to heat melts plastic, emitting gases into the atmosphere in a process known as out gassing.

• plastic causes toxic fumes to be released into the atmosphere and exposed to constant sunlight.

Palm fibers

• Recyclable materials:• Waste paper stream and certified home compostable

—specifically Palm Fiber pulp for the base cup material, lined with Mater-Bi (r), a moisture barrier/liner made from vegetable starches.

• Reduce the waste, pollution, and illogical use of fossil fuels associated with making disposable packaging.

• We use palm fiber an annually renewable resource to create disposable food packaging which composts in 90 days, turning into a healthy contribution for the soil.

Manufacture of palm fibers• A by-product of the production of palm oil, palm fiber is considered an

agricultural waste product, left over from the palm oil harvest, and is usually burned. On the palm oil tree, a large husk, called a Full Fruit Bunch (FFB), grows and contains up to 2,000 fruit. When the fruit is ripe, the FFB is harvested for milling-one palm tree produces fruit two to three times per year.

• In the milling process, the FFBs are sterilized and stripped of the fruit; the fruit is then pressed in order to extract the crude palm oil (CPO).

• After separating the fruit from the FFBs, what remains is called an Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB)-a fibrous mass that is considered waste by the palm millers.

• In typical mill operations, the EFB is mulched for use as fertilizer or for soil remediation; unfortunately, there still remains an abundance of excess fiber that is burned, causing an environmental hazard.

Manufacture of palm fibers

• Instead of burning, we steam, chop and mulch the fiber into a useable form for pulping. The company’s manufacturing operation uses no chemicals, dyes, or bleaches to produce the raw, natural pulp that is then molded into many different shapes and sizes or pressed into sheets for paper.

• The material is certified home compostable, recyclable, and renewable, and complies with all North American and European food grade standards.

Environmental Impacts•

Palm trees give fruit throughout the year, so the material is more than annually renewable.

• ASTM standard for renewability.• As we are using a starch based liner, we are reducing the use of

petroleum based plastics for the moisture barrier.• The Home Compostable Cup is more easily accepted in existing

commercial compost facilities and can be composted more quickly and under less intensive (i.e. costly, energy intensive) operations.

• The entire cup and lid is also recyclable, so if consumers do not bring back the cup or compost it in their own backyards, they an include the cup and lid in the waste paper recycling stream.

• By using an anaerobic system to process the waste, greenhouse gases are reduced .

•THANK YOU