Great news for nature
In early November, China's National Development and Reform Agency published an ambitious plan to replace plastics with bamboo. According to the plan, infrastructure should be in place by the end of 2025 to gradually replace plastics with renewable raw materials wherever technically feasible and economical. Hunan province, famous for growing the fast-growing woody grass, has become the centre of the programme. By 2028, the value of its bamboo production is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan a year.
Bamboo instead of plastic
Hunan was selected as the pilot region for the national project. Not by chance. With over 1.2 million hectares of bamboo crops thriving in the local humid subtropical climate, it is the third largest supplier of this commodity in China. At the same time, it has a dense network of processing companies and production clusters. It has therefore been selected as a promising 'laboratory' for the national innovation programme.
In the land of giant grasses
Eight teams from local universities are working on the project under the umbrella of the newly established Bamboo Industry Research Institute with direct links to the corporate sector. This is represented by more than 4,000 processing companies, which together form a complex industrial chain. The total value of bamboo production in the province last year reached 54 billion yuan. The landlocked province, with a population of 66 million, is dominant in a number of product categories. For example, a full half of the disposable cutlery sold in China comes from Hunan.
Advantages of the subfamily Bambusoidea
"Bamboo grows fast, has a short maturation cycle, high strength, toughness and hardness. It is naturally renewable, recyclable and degradable," says Wu Yiqiang of Central South University of Forestry and Technology, who calculates the benefits of the plant, which can reach heights of up to 40 metres. Grass has enormous potential for reducing environmental burdens and carbon footprints, he says.
However, bamboo products are not "only" carbon neutral: the plant binds CO2 from the atmosphere and therefore has a unique advantage in replacing plastic products and reducing plastic pollution. "Globally, 430 million tonnes of plastic products are produced every year. However, with the development of technology, the use of bamboo is constantly expanding. As a result, we will be able to reduce plastic consumption significantly," adds Wu Yiqiang.
Pallets made of bamboo plastic
The programme is based on two pillars: the substitution of plastic products by bamboo products (e.g. artificial home textiles for bamboo fibre products) and the development of plant material for further processing. Engineers at New Material Technology Co. Ltd. operating in the economic zone in Taojiang County have developed a technology to process bamboo waste into a malleable material that is highly strong and durable once cured. Xianlian Tianxia Company moulds it into pallets for logistics. "Our pallets are half the cost of plastic. And they perform better in durability tests," explains Huang Dai from Xianlian Tianxia. The better properties of the raw material are due to the higher strength of the bamboo fibres, he says. In seven months, the company sold 26 million yuan worth of bamboo pallets.
From laundry to construction
The range of products is very wide. Companies in Taojiang, Suining and other cities supply underwear, home textiles, tableware, toys, furniture, as well as building materials. Increasingly, their production is being sourced by foreign partners.
Low tariffs are becoming an export competitive advantage for Hunan companies. Many countries have started to impose higher import duties on products with a significant carbon footprint - including plastic products. Specifically, the European Union plans to impose a 26% tariff on imports of plastic products.
Challenge: high price
Overcoming the barriers to putting the "bamboo instead of plastic" concept into practice requires a lot of effort. Despite the obvious advantages of the natural raw material, plastic reigns supreme in everyday life, and of course its market share corresponds to this.
The main reason is the high price of renewable raw material. For example, although kindergartens are aware that natural, environmentally friendly bamboo toys are also absolutely safe for health (non-toxic), they hesitate to buy them because of their higher purchase price. Similarly, the catering sector is still resisting the greater penetration of natural tableware: disposable plastic tableware is cheaper.
Innovation will change the situation
The relatively high cost of vegetable raw material is mainly due to the still high proportion of manual labour involved in processing it. Bamboo is mostly cut by hand and transport from high altitude groves using special cable cars is difficult. A tonne of fresh Hunan bamboo costs on average 500 yuan, with a cost component of over 350 yuan for harvesting.
The situation is to be changed by the deployment of modern harvesters, whose improvement engineers are primarily concerned with the maximum elimination of human labour. Another point is to reduce logistics costs by investing in transport infrastructure. However, applied research and manufacturing companies themselves have to do most of the work: innovation in materials and processing techniques in particular can help bamboo beat plastic. Just as it is succeeding in pallet manufacturing. That's why the state programme envisages massive support for the companies and research institutes involved.
Ivan Černý Photo archive
English 
Czech