The development of biodegradable containers promises to be a major boon to the environment in a fast-food obsessed country that uses some 26.2 billion pieces of throwaway tableware each year, taking up 2 million cubic meters of landfill space.

“Of all the containers used in China, 80 percent are foam plastic, which means there will be yearly market demand for 20 billion of the new biodegradable containers once the foam ones are phased out,” said Dong Jinshi, vice-director of the Packing Resources Utilization Commission under the China Packing Association and an expert on fighting the so-called “white pollution.”

The ban is the result of a decree on the part of the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC), which said all plastic throwaway tableware should have been removed from the market by the end of 2000.

Throwaway tableware has become a great headache for environmental protectors because the foam plastic out of which most of it generates toxic gases when it is incinerated. And even without burning, it remains a problem, since the material takes thousands of years to degrade.

In East China’s Jiangsu Province, about 600 million throwaway lunch boxes made of foam plastic are consumed each year, creating a huge mountain of rubbish.

“The consumption volume of throwaway tableware is expected to reach 100 billion in 10 years, with an annual growth rate of 6 percent, in light of the hastening tempo of city life and the increase in population,” Dong said.

The demand for throwaway lunch boxes is massive, and is still growing, but there is some doubt about whether makers of the new biodegradable containers will be able to handle the market.

There are currently roughly 300 factories engaged in the production of degradable throwaway tableware and their annual yield of 3 billion containers represents only the tip of the consumption iceberg, Dong explained.

Tableware sector insiders pointed out that the substitutes need to be recyclable and degradable and must be produced in a pollution-free manner.

Paper pulp and wood fiber are the most common and agreeable among numerous new materials used in producing the containers.

Despite the fact that China currently uses mostly foam plastic disposable food containers, the country’s experience in producing environment-friendly containers has made it a leading exporter of biodegradable tableware, according to Li Jiang, vice-director of the office for tableware substitutes under the State Light Industry Bureau.

At the moment, the most significant barrier to domestic development of the biodegradable lunch box sector is cost.

The cheapest degradable meal box costs about 0.20 yuan, while the price of foam plastic versions cost as little as 0.10 yuan.

For this and other reasons, foam plastic containers continue to play a dominant role in the market, despite the SETC ban.

(China Daily 01/02/2001)