Twenty million trees are cut down every single year just to manufacture paper cups. Most of those cups are coated in polyethylene, a derivative of fossil fuels. What's worse, one single paper cup takes longer than 20 years to break down in a landfill.
Additionally, around 40% of the wood that we harvest is used for commercial and industrial applications. This overuse of wood leads to biodiversity loss, deforestation, water pollution and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
By providing an alternative to tree-based paper products, sugarcane fiber presents immense potential.
Eco-friendly materials possess three characteristics: They’re renewable, biodegradable, and compostable. Sugarcane fiber is all three.
Renewable – Around 1.2 billion tons of sugarcane are produced annually. From this, 100 million tons of bagasse are created each year. While some of this bagasse is burned as biofuel, much is discarded. Bagasse packaging production finds a new purpose for this agricultural byproduct that would otherwise have been disposed of reducing waste and supporting farmers.
Biodegradable – We wish that all products ended up in local composting facilities but the reality is they often do not. It’s essential to plan for the reality of products ending up in landfills and on the side of the road. Biodegradability ensures that a product can break down on its own over time. Sugarcane fiber can biodegrade within 30 to 90 days.
Compostable – In commercial composting facilities, post consumer sugarcane products can break down even faster. In as little as 60 days, bagasse can be composted entirely. When composted, bagasse turns into a nutrient-rich fertilizer of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and calcium.
Sugarcane fiber is now prominent in the ethical material sphere, and it’s being used in several different industries and products.