Bagasse is primarily found in countries that produce a particularly high amount of sugar, for instance Brazil, Vietnam, China or Thailand. Bagasse was mainly used as a fuel for the production plants. Even today, a part of the bagasse is still used for the factories’ ovens. But since humans have started to recycle materials, bagasse’s value was also increased. Nowadays, it is used for the production of building materials, packaging materials and disposable tableware. The paper industry has also started to replace wood fibers with sugarcane fibers to produce napkins, toilet paper and cardboards.
Sugarcane bagasse products are perfect solution for biodegradable food packaging which are environment friendly. These eco-friendly food containers are very easy for food takeaways which why is they are called as green food packaging or biodegradable disposable takeaways. These no plastic food containers not help nature but also our health too.
Waste disposal is one of the most important problems facing anyone who wants to live an eco-friendly lifestyle. So many of the things we use every day get tossed in the trash and end up buried at the bottom of a landfill or down cycled into less useful products. This is especially true of plastic, which is one of the most environmentally damaging material both to produce and dispose of. Recently, research has begun to focus on finding alternatives to plastic that can be made without the use of petrochemicals and that can be disposed of responsibly. One of those alternatives is bagasse.
From Sugarcanes to Sustainable Tableware
Sugarcanes (Saccharum officinarum) belong to the family of sweet grasses and grow in tropic and subtropical climate zones. The plants are 3 to 5 meters in height and their stem has a diameter of 2 – 4,5cm. They are the most important raw-material supplier for the production of (retail) sugar. For this purpose, the sugarcanes are harvested, collected, and squeezed in order to produce sucrose or sugarcane juice. 100 tons of sugarcanes generate about 10 tons of sugar and 34 tons of valuable bagasse.
Instead of burning this “waste product”, manufacturers increase the material’s value and produce eco-friendly disposable products.
Uses and Application
Bagasse as a renewable power generation source and for the production of bio-based materials. For a long time, bamboo, soft woods etc. had been the traditional fibrous raw materials in the paper industry throughout the world. But due to global shortage of these raw materials, the paper industry throughout the world had been exploring the possibilities of using alternate fibrous raw materials, particularly agricultural residues like bagasse. Toward the beginning of the current century, it was almost well established by paper experts throughout the world that bagasse, after proper depicting, was an ideal raw material for the manufacture of different kinds of paper, newsprint etc.
Bagasse is commonly used as a substitute for wood in many tropical and subtropical countries for the production of pulp, paper and board, such as India, China, Colombia, Iran, Thailand and Argentina. It produces pulp with physical properties that are well suited for generic printing and writing papers as well as tissue products but it is also widely used for boxes and newspaper production.
Indian Market
The bagasse tableware products market in India will exhibit ~9% CAGR during the forecast period. The bagasse plates market is expected to reach the valuation of US$ 322 MN by 2029. It has been found that tableware products made from sugarcane bagasse are very hygienic.
The growing demand for disposable plates during the pandemic has created revenue opportunities for companies in the global bagasse plates market. Since an increasing number of consumers are growing environmentally conscious, the demand for bagasse plates is anticipated to rise in the upcoming months and years. R&D innovations will be at the forefront for introducing new designs in eco-friendly disposable plates.
The bagasse plates market is projected to expand from a volume of 1,939 million units in 2021 and cross the production of 2,990 million units by 2029. Bagasse is gaining prominence in food packaging materials. However, it has been found that in spite of its high level of resistance to both hot and cold temperatures.
Bagasse tableware products are trendy and admired as a green alternative to plastic tableware. Bagasse tableware products or sugarcane fiber tableware products are made from sugarcane residue, which is eco-friendly substitute to polystyrene and Styrofoam tableware products. These are also known as sugarcane biodegradable tableware products and are lightweight, recyclable and come with other unique attributes. Bagasse tableware products such as plates, cups, bowls, trays and cutlery are in high demand in food and beverage industry.
Industry Major Market Players:
1. Pactiv Evergreen Inc.
2. Genpak, LLC
3. Vegware US
4. Dart Container Corporation
5. Karat by Lollicup
6. Green Good USA
7. Eco-Products, Inc.
8. Natural Tableware
9. Material Motion, Inc.
10. Duni Group AB
11. Bio Futura B.V
12. Ecoriti
13. Detpak (Detmold Group)
14. Pappco Green ware
15. Green weimo
16. Greenvale Eco Products
17. Geokriti Resources Pvt Ltd
18. Deveuro Paper Products LLP
19. Jinhua Zhongsheng Fiber Products Co., Ltd
20. Shenzhen Zhiben Environmental Protection Technology Group Co., Ltd.