Replacing Plastic with Bamboo | Research Status and Development Direction of Disposable Bamboo Fiber Meal Boxes!
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Development Status and Advantages of Disposable Bamboo Fiber Lunch Boxes In modern society, the widespread use of disposable plastic lunch boxes has brought serious pollution problems to the ecological environment. In view of this, a series of "plastic restriction" and "plastic ban" policies have been introduced at home and abroad. Against this background, degradable disposable plant fiber lunch boxes are experiencing strong development momentum. As a type of plant fiber lunch box, bamboo fiber lunch boxes, with their significant advantages in raw material resources, material properties, and technology, can be prepared into green and environmentally friendly lunch boxes with water resistance, oil resistance, microwave resistance, and degradability, and their market scale is expanding rapidly.
I. The Current Situation and Hazards of Disposable Lunch Boxes
Over the past 50 years, plastics have gradually become one of the most serious threats to the pollution of the earth's surface ecosystem, and have had a negative impact on the living environment of humans and marine life. Disposable tableware refers to utensils used only for single - use in meals or similar purposes. Among various plastic products, disposable polypropylene lunch boxes used in the catering industry account for a very high proportion. With the acceleration of the pace of social life, takeout has become one of the mainstream dining modes. The consumption of disposable plastic lunch boxes in China increased from 19.8 billion in 2017 to 40.2 billion in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of 42.49%, and the market scale is extremely large. According to the statistical data of urban domestic waste treatment methods in China in 2021, the current treatment methods for disposable lunch boxes are mainly 52% landfill and 45% incineration. Simple landfill treatment will cause a large number of bacteria to lurk on waste plastic lunch boxes, polluting the soil and underground water sources for a long time; while harmful substances such as sulfur dioxide and dioxins released during incineration are likely to cause respiratory infections and physical diseases in humans, leading to serious air pollution problems.
II. Restriction Policies on Disposable Plastic Products
The environmental pollution problems caused by plastic tableware have prompted the introduction of a series of policies from "plastic restriction" to "plastic ban" at home and abroad (as shown in Table 1 and Table 2). The National Development and Reform Commission of China plans to introduce policy measures before 2025 to replace more than 30% of disposable plastic tableware with degradable tableware, which will undoubtedly increase the market demand for plant fiber tableware. In September 2020, President Xi Jinping proposed at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly that China will increase its national autonomous contribution and adopt more powerful policies and measures to achieve the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The promotion of the concept of "carbon reduction" is also gradually restricting the use of plastic tableware.
III. Advantages and Current Situation of Degradable Bamboo Fiber Lunch Boxes
As a member of plant fiber lunch boxes, bamboo fiber lunch boxes have unique advantages in resources, material properties, and technology.
(1) Resource Advantages
Global bamboo resources are abundant, with a reserve of more than 36 million hectares and a wide distribution, mainly concentrated in the tropical, subtropical, and warm - temperate regions between 46° north latitude and 47° south latitude on the earth. Bamboo is a characteristic resource of China. The bamboo forest area in China has reached 6.4116 million hectares, accounting for more than 30% of the world's bamboo forest area. China is the country with the largest bamboo forest area, the richest bamboo resources, and the highest degree of bamboo industrialization in the world.
(2) Material Property Advantages
Bamboo has the characteristics of good toughness and short cultivation cycle. Bamboo fibers have a large length - diameter ratio, with a length of about 1 - 4 mm and a small microfibril angle, which endows bamboo with good mechanical properties. Its tensile strength is twice that of wood, and its compressive strength is slightly higher than that of wood. Bamboo fibers have a high content of pentose and lignin, which are easy to form environmentally friendly bamboo fiber composites with high stiffness, strong impermeability, and good durability through high - temperature molding. In addition, bamboo grows fast and can be harvested in 3 - 5 years. Once cultivated, it can be used continuously, and the source of raw materials is sustainable.
(3) Technological Advantages
Bamboo has a high content of hemicellulose and a large non - crystalline region, and has a significant swelling effect during the pulping process. Its cell wall is formed by the alternation of more than a dozen sub - layers with different widths, which is more likely to produce an internal fibrillation phenomenon. Optimizing the pulping process can help improve the interweaving structure of lunch boxes, thereby improving their stiffness and impermeability. The natural material property advantages of bamboo fibers (good toughness, large bulk ratio, and moderate length - diameter ratio), combined with simple pretreatment methods such as sodium sulfite and steam explosion, can prepare bamboo fiber lunch box raw materials with excellent performance. In 2018, China's export trade volume of bamboo products accounted for 73.1% of the global trade volume, of which bamboo tableware accounted for 42.38%. Due to the regional characteristics of bamboo resource distribution, most bamboo fiber lunch box processing enterprises are currently mainly concentrated in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Anhui and other provinces and cities. China has now become the largest producer and consumer of bamboo fiber lunch boxes in the world. It is predicted that the market capacity of bamboo fiber lunch boxes will grow rapidly and is expected to reach more than 5 billion within 3 years.
