Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2023-09-25 Origin: Site
As an emerging eco-friendly product, fiber pulp molded packaging can be recycled throughout their whole life circle, from raw materials, production, till to final waste disposal.
The raw materials used to make disposable and compostable packaging are generally from the plant fibers such as bagasse, bamboo, wheat straw and reed. So, what are the differences between them? Let’s take a look.
1. Bagasse fiber
Bagasse is the dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane stalks to extract their juice. It’s originally used as a biofuel for the production of heat, energy, and electricity, but with the growing demand for eco packaging material, it has begun to play an increasingly important role in packaging industry. On one hand, sugarcane is a rapidly renewable plant, comparing to wood. On the other, bagasse’s medium-long fiber has the moderate strength and toughness. Both properties make it ideal for pulp molded packaging, especially the packaging for foodservice as well as some high-end industrial packaging like mobile phone holders and cosmetic packaging.
2. Bamboo fiber
Like bagasse fiber, bamboo fiber is another excellent raw material for pulp molded packaging. Bamboo fiber is also a medium-long fiber with properties between coniferous wood and hardwood. Products made from bamboo fiber pulp have good toughness, not prone to cracks, and have a smooth and delicate surface with a lighter-color look.
Since bamboo fiber resources are relatively precious and the price is slightly higher than that of bagasse fiber, it is usually used with bagasse fiber in ratio to increase performance and reduce costs. Bagasse tableware, as we usually called, is actually added by a certain amount of bamboo pulp in the production, the ratio depending on product’s depth, shape, slope degree and R angle. Bamboo pulp is widely used to make upmarket mobile phone packaging inserts, cosmetic packaging and tableware.
3. Wheat straw fiber
Wheat straw fiber is relatively short. The products made from wheat straw pulp have a smooth and beautiful appearance with good stiffness but are brittle with poor flexibility. Most pulp molded tableware products can use 100% wheat straw pulp as raw material. However, for those with complex shapes and deep depths, long fiber pulp needs to be added during the production process to increase the toughness of the product.
4. Reed fiber
Similar to wheat straw fiber, reed fiber is also short, but the surface of the finished product is not as smooth as that of bagasse pulp, bamboo pulp, or wheat straw pulp, and the stiffness is also inferior to the above 3 fibers. Reed pulp molded tableware is relatively brittle and contains more impurities. Therefore, for the models with deep depth and complex shape, it requires to add other long fibers into the pulp to increase the toughness of the product.
