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July 30, 2007

Alarm on food packaging

Right when the Chinese exporters try to rid the low quality reputation in developed nations, the recent string of product disasters are causing scares among the consumers in the United States. The blacklist seems to be expanding: toxic pet food, toothpaste, seafood, toys, defective tires and exploding cell phone batteries.

Here comes another warning thats directly involving plastics: disposable tableware. Chinese-language newspaper the Information Times reported from Guangzhou:

Chinas quality regulator, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said nearly half of the disposable tableware products checked in a national survey were found to be substandard. Problems are especially pronounced with disposable plastic food container, dishes and trays used by the fast food industry.These products may cause acute or chronic poisoning.

The report said the problematic products contain recycled plastics and certain chemical additives, which will release toxic substancewhen combined with high heat or high levels of fat in foods like meat.

The most worrisome fact, as I see it, is the manufacturers indifference to and neglect of the government regulations.

According to the same story, AQSIQ launched September 1, 2006 a market admittance system for food-grade plastic packaging, containers and tools. It implied very few manufacturers have since obtained the certificate. So the government agency is trying to give the industry a push by announcing to start the enforcement at the end of August, when uncertified producers will be required to pass quality inspection before resuming sales.

This hard-core approach still hasnt raised enough attention. The Information Times said:

As of June 18, only one out of the 77 manufacturers of plastic food packaging in Guangzhou has the certificate. Eleven producers have passed the on-site inspection......It takes 60 business days for AQSIQ to complete the process of approving a certificate. There are some 3,700 manufacturers that make plastic food packaging in China and nearly a third of them employ less than 10, according to the AQSIQ.

I couldnt find how many of these manufacturers sell in China only and how many export. But I truly hope the kudos I gave to the Chinese exporters at this years International Housewares Show prove worthwhile.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on July 30, 2007 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 7, 2007

Chinese beer drinkers favor PET bottles?

Taiwan's Economics Daily News recently reported a large-scale project of PET beer bottles in the mainland.

Publicly-held Taiwanese conglomerate Far East Group is adding plastic bottles to its diverse portfolio. It announced that its first PET beer bottle factory will start production in Suzhou in the second quarter of 2008. The investor, Far East Textile Ltd. (FETL), expected an initial annual capacity of 560 million bottles and 2 billion yuan of sales.

The paper cited the company's official:

FETL is aiming to take the market opportunities offered by the BeijingOlympics. The company also is interested in partnering with mainland local or international soft drinks makers. Being the largest supplier of PET resin in China, FETL has made technical progress on PET beer bottles, which are more technically challenging than PET bottles used for water and soft drinks.

FETL will be competing with Chinas largest PET bottle maker Zhuhai Zhongfu Enterprise Co. Ltd., the only Chinese firm spearheading in the PET beer bottle market. Its major revenue stream still comes from the soft drinks sector, and it claims to supply over half of the plastic bottles used by the Chinaoperations of Coco Cola and Pepsis. But the public company said PET beer bottle is the major goal in the next few years, reported by Chinas's Security Daily.

Zhongfu currently has an annual capacity of 5 billion PET bottles.

Chinas domestic beer consumption tops 20 million metric tons annually, translating to 30 billion packaging bottles.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on August 7, 2007 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

PLA-coated paper dishware

The enthusiasm on bio-resin and its applications seems to be negatively associated with the oil price. In the wave of recent price hikes of petrochemical raw materials, Taiwan's Kuan Kun Paper Industry Inc. announced success on the commercialization of PLA-coated paper products, named Eco Green Paper.

According to the Economics Daily News,

Kuan Kuns success came after two years research and development with partner NatureWorks LLC. Kuan Kun has received patent on the products. PLA replacing PE or PET to be coated on paper dishware will help Taiwanese makers to significantly increase exports.

The company also plans to initiate an Allianceof Bio-degradable paper Products.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on August 7, 2007 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 8, 2007

Food container: the pricier the better?

Higher-end plastic food containers are able to keep fruits and vegetables fresher and longer than the cheap ones, but not as much as some of the brands claim, according to a story in Cincinnati's The Enquirer.

Its not a scientific test though, as the story headline suggests. The reporter essentially did an informer test on her own, comparing brands including GladWare disposable, Rubbermaid, FresherLonger Miracle and Fresh Vac Im not sure who are the manufacturers for the latter two.

The test results are:

Least effective was a disposable GladWare container After about three days in the refrigerator, raspberries were showing some mold. I was surprised how long the broccoli lasted, but by about day six, it smelled bad. On the plus size, these are cheap, and it's no big deal if you leave them at a potluck or throw them out. Set of five entrée-sized containers, $3.29.
Premier containers from Rubbermaid nest together and have lids that snap to the bottom, so you can keep track of them. Both raspberries and broccoli lasted about a day longer in these than in the disposable containers. $2.49-$8.99 for container sizes 1¼ cups to 14 cups.
Fresher Longer Miracle Food Storage containers, sold at Sharper Image and Sur La Table, are air-tight with a rubber gasket and snap-down lid. They're made with plastic that contains antimicrobial silver nanoparticles. However, they are no longer allowed, by a quirk of government regulation, to mention the silver on the packaging. Raspberries didn't have much mold until about a week into the experiment, and broccoli still smelled OK after nine days. Set of 12, $49.95.
Fresh Vac containers have rubber gaskets and close with a lock-down handle on the side. You push on the top of a filled container a few times, forcing the air out through a vacuum valve. There's a satisfying whoosh when you open the valve to break the vacuum, which may be the simple reason I liked these best. In my experiment, the raspberries had a little bit of mold after 10 days. They're available at Sur La Table. Set of three, $39.95.

The reporter also included in her test a vacuum-packing system called Food Saver, which worked very effectively: "I ran out of time before the broccoli went bad, and the raspberries took almost two weeks to grow significant fuzz."

But the product's selling point is the vacuum mechanism powered by a separate electric pump (another $200) rather than just the plastic materials. I dont think it directly competes with conventional plastic containers.

Also, to my surprise, the test skipped well-known and innovative brands like Tupperware.

But the take-away message I get from this story is more on the business model side: is it really that traditional plastic products can only be low-margin commodities without much added-value? What can we do to leverage other materials and technologies to increase higher-end use of plastics?

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on August 8, 2007 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Plastic beer keg concept evolves

The plastics packaging industry seems to be making progress in developing more commercially-successful applications for the beer industry.

The other day I blogged about China's expanding capacity of PET beer bottles. Today I heard an Aussie company Alternative Plastics is molding beer kegs out of polypropylene.

The company says on its web site:

Heineken beer systems recognized the potential of the small beer keg market and with help of our global supplier Quadrant developed a new tapping system.
The advantage to the consumer is that the beer stays fresh for 30 days after it has been initially tapped. This conservation period is currently unique for a beer tapping system operating independently.

It didn't say how many of these kegs the company is supplying Heineken right now.

After some research online, a story on PRW.com said the world's first barrier PET beer keg actually came out last year:

Carlsberg has launched the worlds first barrier PET keg for beer, its patented DraughtMaster system.
The sealed system allows no oxygen to enter the keg, which can keep the beer fresh for up to 21 days from first serve, said Carlsberg. When beer is poured, the keg is compressed, leaving no room for surplus oxygen.
The brewery said that smaller bars and restaurants usually stock bottled beer because of longer shelf life.
Carlsberg chief executive Nils Andersen said: We want to make cold and fresh draught beer accessible to any size of outlet from bars and restaurants to hotels.
A home version of DraughtMaster will also be launched.

Yet, another article suggests plastic beer keg was invented much earlier. The article was published in 1988 and it says Golden, Colo.-based Coors introduced a plastic Party Ball -- an amber-tinted, transluscent, spherical alternative to the heavy metal keg consumers pick up and return, usually at a beverage distribution center.

I didn't see what type of plastic was used for the party ball.

Looks like the new PP keg can keep beer fresh for 9 days longer than Carlberg's PET version. The components of the new tapping system are also made of plastics.

Photos coutersy of Alternative Plastics Web site

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on August 8, 2007 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

May 12, 2008

What's in the bag?

It seems like everyone on the planet is talking about plastic bags. But different cultures find different uses of them. For example, in the U.S., have you seen plastic bags being used like they are in the following photos?

1. Bicycle seat cover

Photo by Nina Ying Sun

Bikes are an important means of transport for many Chinese people. In a small town or village, a bike can get you all town. In big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, people ride bikes in their neighborhood but also from home to the subway and bus station They then leave the bikes nearby and take public transportation. It's their versions of "park and ride." Since bike seats can get wet outdoors, people cover them up with their free, used shopping bags. That's smart and eco-friendly (reuse), right? However, from the picture, you can see one bag appears loosely attached to the seat and looks like it could easily take off on the next gust of wind, becoming one more piece of infamous "while pollution"--a term coined to describe unsightly, littered plastic. Advice to Shanghai bike riders: Tie up the bag covering your seat! You'll save yourself from the wet seat, and avoid contributing to the growing litter problem!

2. Carryout sauce container

Photo by Nina Ying Sun

Let me admit that I got the food in the picture from a small restaurant in a Shanghai alley -- a "hole in the wall" as we say in the U.S. The waiter deftly used a porcelain spoon to drop just the right amount of vinegar into the ultralthin plastic bag and made a pretty tie with the upper part of the bag: "Here's your sauce!" Actually the styrene foam lunch box was also wrapped in an ultrathin bag. I wonder what these places will use after June 1, when ultrathin bags will be banned. It wouldn't be economical for them to switch to heavier-gauge bags unless they somehow pass the additional cost on to customers. Those were delicious spring rolls, by the way.

3. Over-packaged silverware

Photo by Nina Ying Sun

Well, silverware is the Western term. In China, it's simply wooden chopsticks (there are also stainless steel, silver and ivory ones). Since many folks eating out have hygienic concerns with restaurant-washed chopsticks, disposable chopsticks have become extremely popular. Many restaurants make you pay for their over-packaged silverware--a big bag with the restaurant's name, phone and address that contains a small bag of wet wipe and a pair of wrapped chopsticks. "You want sterilized chopsticks packages?" they ask you bluntly after you order, "Two yuan each!" Sure, bring them on. But the "disposable" chopsticks often are made of plastic--polished, nice and sturdy. It would be a huge waste to throw these away after one use. A local friend said restaurants actually collect the used chopsticks and have a third-party vendor clean and re-package them. While that may sound like a good idea, the news on Chinese TV was that authorities had busted underground cutlery clean-and-repackage workshops, which used low-quality laundry detergent and recycled water to wash them. No wonder the new trend, lead by Western expatriates in China, is to bring your own chopsticks to eat out.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on May 12, 2008 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 22, 2008

Huaqiang's 2nd life

I never believed that the plastic ban caused bag giant Huaqiang Plastics Co. Ltd.'s closing. I thought the company was an attractive deal for potential buyers. It had a lot to offer: good market, established customers, and all-ready production.

I was right.

Huaqiang had two production bases: Suiping and Luohe. Suiping's former management, together with some previous customers, bought the Suiping operation and renamed it Huiqiang.

The new company's opening ceremony was April 18, according to China's Economic Focus. Huiqiang is currently running 100 machines and making 30 metric tons of bags a month. It also plans to expand the current workforce of 1,000 in the near future.

Government officials at Suiping played an important role in facilitating the deal, out of interest in creating and retaining local employment as well as benefits in other aspects of the local economy. Most management has stayed with the company, as well as many workers.

But many former employees of Huaqiang are unhappy with their layoff packages. Since Huiqiang doesn't inherit Huaqiang's labor relations problems, the workers will have a long and hard battle to fight with the former owner.

China's new labor contract law is supposed to protect long-term employees with open-ended contracts. Many think that's reintroducing permanent positions, which existed in state-owned enterprises during China's era of planned economy. But no positions are permanent anymore, as businesses today are market-oriented and not guaranteed to last forever. An open-ended contract -- as a format -- only protects the opportunity to work in the same postition within the same organization. The specific terms are vital. But the Huaqiang workers are not being protected by the new law anyway, as the company timed its closure before the law came into effect.

Now, is the change of ownership a convenient way to get around the labor laws?

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on May 22, 2008 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

June 4, 2008

Bag ban's bumpy ride (1)

The first week of China's enforcement of the plastic bag ban -- or, as some prefer, "restrictive policies" -- has been a little chaotic. A pregnant woman in her second trimester was actually injured and hospitalized by store employees in a dispute over a U.S. 3-cent plastic bag.

The woman, Ms. Zhang, was shopping with her sister, who wanted to purchase two packs of cosmetic facial masks and turned down the store's plastic bag at the store check out counter. The cashier insisted the items be put in a 0.20 yuan carrier bag. The two women couldn't make sense of the unreasonable policy and started to leave, when the cashier pointed at their backs, accusing them of being cheap. The Zhang sisters felt humiliated and turned around to argue. A reporter from Oriental Today said the store surveillance video showed that a female store manager got physical with the sisters and hit them with a walkie-talkie. As a result, Ms. Zhang was hospitalized with a head injury.

Apparently, the customer is not always right in China. The Zhang sisters were basically bullied by the store. There's a lot to be said about the Chinese service industry and consumers' rights in general, but in this case, the poorly established and enforced plastic bag ban deserves some of the blame.

Why do I say that? Because the government has put so much emphasis on "plastic bags must be at a charge" and "retailers must sell bags for more than they cost," that the point of the ban -- environmental protection -- is being tossed aside and, instead, empowers retailers over consumers.

In this environment, stores abuse their power and harm customers' benefits, not to mention their well-being, as was the case for Ms. Zhang.

Much publicity has been made on the new bag production standards and inspection methods, but there's no official instruction on how the retail industry should enforce the ban. That's why the store in Ms. Zhang' case dared to force the purchase of a plastic bag when the customer preferred no bag at all -- a much more eco-friendly option than buying a bag. The poorly explained and misinformed policy provides a perfect loophole for retailers to take advantage and profit from the sale of bags, completely ignoring the ban’s mission in the first place: to reduce the use of plastic bags.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on June 4, 2008 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 5, 2008

Bag ban's bumpy ride (2)

Many know that some laws in China aren't well enforced -- or enforced at all. But in many cases, the root lies in the laws themselves. The plastic bag ban is a perfect example. During the six months between the announcement of the new directive and the actual enforcement, the government simply let the following problems and issues take care of themselves:

1. Enforcement at farmers markets, where customers are most price-sensitive. I mentioned this problem in my January 28 column, China faces hurdles enforcing bag ban. According to Chinese local media, most farmers markets across the nation are still giving away free, ultrathin plastic bags. With double-digit inflation, consumers try to stretch their money at farmers markets versus stores and supermarkets. Farmers markets are also in higher need of plastic bags than supermarkets and other retailers, as food items in the former are not packaged. Is it smart to impose plastic bag fees here at this point in time?

2. Applicability. American fast food chain KFC was "caught" by some local media providing free plastic bags for carry-out orders. However, China's Ministry of Commerce previously exempted restaurants and drugstores from the ban. But a plastics trade group was quoted by media as saying the ban does apply to some restaurants including KFC. Such misinformation adds more frustration to an already confusing policy.

3. Pricing. Authorities have stressed that retailers must sell plastic bags for more than they cost. But there's no further instruction on pricing. The cost of plastic bags also bears much ambiguity: Should the price include additional operational costs incurred during the transition from old bags to new? Or should the charge be based on the price on the invoice? Furthermore, what agency is going to regulate the charge of plastic bags at stores? Dayang reported the most expensive plastic bags in Shenzhen are 19 times the cost of the cheapest. China News Agency said that bag prices vary widely in Beijing. Are retailers being encouraged to make profits on plastic bags? Is there a limit on how much a carrier bag costs?

4. Existing ultrathin bags. If they are not allowed to be circulated and used, shouldn't the government develop a mechanism to collect and recycle them? Right now, cities are dumping ultrathin bags in rural areas, where living standards are lower and law enforcement weaker.

5. Produce bags. Chinese media have also reported that the use of produce bags has skyrocketed since June 1. Beijing Times said some consumers steal produce bags for home use, and retailers have turned a blind eye because they don't want to deal with it.

However, even with all the issues, stores have reported a significant drop in their usage of plastic bags over the first two days of the ban. Beijing Business said some large supermarkets reported that they now use only 5 percent of the plastic bags that they used prior to the ban. Plastic bag makers should continue to watch the market responses.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on June 5, 2008 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 17, 2008

The REAL bag ban

China's June 1 bag ban targets ultrathin plastic bags and the free giveaway of shopping bags. But China's major tourism region Yunnan province is kicking off a real ban: It's outlawing all plastic shopping bags, no matter how thick they are, no matter at a charge or free, no matter if they are made from conventional materials or are biodegradable.

The ban doesn't stop here. According to Xinhua's Yunnan Channel, the provincial government has ordered the ban of all production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags, starting Jan 1, 2009. The ban supersedes the less strict national ban, the directive stresses.

The government spokesperson encouraged consumers to use alternative, eco-friendly shopping bags: non-woven, canvas and paper bags.

I seriously doubt Yunnan's policymakers understand that non-woven bags are made of plastic, or that they've ever heard how the production of paper bags consumes more energy and releases more greenhouse gases than their plastic counterparts.

Do they truly believe it's the right thing to do--making the 45 million residents go plastic-bag-free?

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on June 17, 2008 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 20, 2008

Bag messes up soccer game

The sin list of plastic bags just got longer. On top of everything else, they can affect celebrity athletes' performance -- at least according to Australian soccer player, Mark Schwarzer.

Schwarzer received a yellow card in the June 14 game where his team, the Socceroos, won 3-1 over Qatar in Doha for alleged time-wasting, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.

But the heroic athlete said he wasn't wasting time. All he did was try to deal with a plastic bag blown into his goalmouth.

"There was a big plastic bag sitting in the middle of the goal, and I asked the referee if I could move it and he said yes. As I came back and placed the ball down he gave me a yellow card," Schwarzer was quoted as saying.

I wouldn't blame him if Schwarzer decided to join the anti-plastic-bag crowd now. Thanks to that plastic bag, he'll miss the World Cup qualifier against China.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on June 20, 2008 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 24, 2008

Reduce bags and/or raise money

How far can tax policies go in reducing society's use of plastic shopping bags? Consumers in Ireland have a story to tell.

Ireland introduced a plastic bag tax in 2002, and consumers rapidly cut their average use of plastic shopping bags from 328 to 21, according to the Independent News.

The Irish government decided last year to raise the tax to further discourage shoppers from buying plastic bags. As a result, usage of plastic shopping bags declined from 120 million in 2006 to 100 million in 2007. But the government collected 22 million euros of plastic bag taxes last year, compared to 18 million euros in 2006. "The taxes end up becoming revenue-raising measures," Labour's Environment spokeswoman Joanna Tuffy was quoted in the report.

Chinese consumers are also paying for their plastic shopping bags. But since they are paying retailers instead of the government, it's hard, if not impossible, to find out the nationwide spending on plastic bags. Plus, the money raised in China probably won't be used for eco-friendly purposes, unlike the Irish program. The Irish government, however, is unable to provide a specific breakdown of the use of the plastic bag tax funds because they are mixed in with funds from the landfill levy.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on June 24, 2008 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 26, 2008

Rubbermaid goes "thin"

To cope with the ever-rising prices of plastic raw materials, processors are looking for ways to use less resin in the same product.

Newell Rubbermaid Inc., for one, is using more additives such as calcium carbonate and tweaking product designs. "We're taking a look at our products and redesigning them," Ray Johnson, Rubbermaid's president of global manufacturing and supply chain was quoted as saying in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A picture on the AJC Web page demonstrates how drastically storage containers have been slimmed down.

According to Johnson, plastic currently accounts for merely 10-12 percent of costs, compared to 25 percent prior to the changes. For a container maker, that sounds really impressive.

I don't know how many consumers have noticed the thinning trend of plastic products and how they take it. I guess it's good for the environment and easy on the wallet. But as packaged water bottles turn from rigid to semi-flexible, I miss the feel of holding a solid and sturdy container of beverage. At home, I've started to pour my spring water from its soft bottle into ceramic cups. It's my little pet peeve, but I hope to make the experience of drinking water less "disposable."

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on June 26, 2008 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

July 21, 2008

'Experts' misinterpret bag ban

China's restrictive policies on plastic bags are getting more complex as the government rushes to patch loopholes of the initial rules.

The Ministry of Commerce issued new provisions in the beginning of July and restated the ban on free plastic bags to all retail stores.

Some Chinese media cited industry experts as saying that the new provision extends the ban from "supermarkets, department stores and farmers' markets," which were specifically mentioned in the original rules, to other, more controversial places such as restaurants, bookstores, clothing stores, drugstores, building-material stores, etc.

Such coverage has spread widely into both Chinese and foreign media, leading more retailers to jump on the bag-at-a-charge bandwagon.

However, Beijing officials clarified last week that restaurants are "by principle not included in the ban for this moment." Meantime, the same officials acknowledged that some restaurants are already charging for carry-out bags, but that's "their own practice and not mandatory."

The supplementary provisions also said produce bags, exempt from the ban, must have no carrier features. But again, contrary to some Chinese and foreign media coverage, the government has not banned customers from using produce bags as a substitute for shopping bags.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on July 21, 2008 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 8, 2008

Bag ban's unofficial casualties

A news report in the Guangzhou Daily said that at least 100 plastic bag factories in Guangzhou have shut down since the June 1 enforcement of China's national restrictive policies on plastic bags, quoting an unnamed "industry insider."

That's the power of 1.3 billion consumers. No data is available on the reduced use of plastic shopping bags on a national level. But media and trade association have reported "significant declines" in individual stores and regions.

Guangzhou authorities have also confiscated more than 20,000 bags in the past two months. But an official also acknowledged that ultrathin plastic bags are still being used in farmers markets. Guangzhou residents in particular, prefer to buy live fish and seafood as well as fresh meats.

Posted by Nina Ying Sun on August 8, 2008 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)