GEORGE
TOWN: Fancy having a meal and eating the containers too? You can when
edible plates and cups hit the local market at the end of the year.
Biodegradable
product manufacturer Green World Biotech Sdn Bhd is investing RM100
million in Penang over the next four years to set up a plant that will
churn out edible containers from cane husks and other agro-based
materials.
The facility
on a 4ha site at Penang Science Park on the mainland would start
production by the fourth quarter of this year, Green World CEO and
managing director P Ramaness told a press conference yesterday.
Phase
One will commence production this year, making seven types of food
packs, including biodegradable cups, plates, lunch boxes, burger boxes
and hospital meal trays.
Phase Two, involving the production of biodegradable garbage and supermarket bags, will be launched by February 2011.
Ramaness said the company was also negotiating with MAS to supply biodegradable meal boxes on its flights.
The company
is also designing packaging products for electronics applications,
telecommunications devices packaging, audio/video packaging, medical
packaging and other related products.
Unlike other
packaging materials, the products have a shelf-life of two years and
once discarded, would become organic material within 45 days.
“We already
have orders from American and European companies in the food packaging
industry and we are also negotiating with hypermarket and supermarket
chains in Australia and New Zealand to supply these products this year.
“Though the
cost of these products will initially be 30% to 40% higher than the
polysterene variety, we hope to make our prices comparable in the near
future, when we are fully operational in four years,” Ramaness said.
He said 80% of the products would be exported and the rest marketed locally.
Green World
will spend RM20 million in its first year of operations and initially
employ 80 workers, gradually increasing the number to 1,000 in four
years.
In announcing
the investment, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said with the European
Union’s requirement that only biodegradable products be used for
packaging from 2010, the market for such products would be valued at
€167 billion.
He said green
technology was in line with the state’s four main thrusts of propelling
k-economy, halal hub, professional and shared services, and industrial
clusters, which include bio-technology, high technology and green
technology.(by Regina William, The Edge Daily)
