bioplasticsMAGAZINE_1406

Films | Flexibles | Bags
Bioplastics
help natural
rubber
Application of bioplastics
in Thailand’s natural
rubber plantations
Typical rubber nursery that uses polyethylene bags.
Natural rubber latex is obtained by tapping of rubber
trees called pará rubber. Car tyres are the biggest
natural rubber product. They are today made from a
compounding of natural rubber with synthetic rubber. Synthetic
rubber is petroleum-based similar to petroleum-based
plastic, while natural rubber is a biobased product.
Thailand supplies 37 % of the 12 million tonnes annually
of the world’s natural rubber and therefore has the single
biggest market share. Thailand currently grows 1.5 billion
rubber trees. Each year 90 million new rubber trees are
replanted to replace old trees whose service lives are finished.
Plastics are used in every stage of the natural rubber
industry, starting from the production of young rubber trees
in nurseries where plastics are used for bud grafting, planting
bags and netting. When young rubber trees are transferred
for planting in larger plantations, plastics are used for
ground cover or mulch film, and latex collection cups. After
harvesting plastics are used as rubber block wrappers for
transportation. Polyethylene and polypropylene are the most
widely used plastics in the rubber industry.
Maxrich Co., Ltd. is a Thai company that develops
technology and products in bioplastics. The company has
R&D and manufacturing facilities for compounding and
converting of bioplastics. Maxrich’s business includes various
applications of bioplastics, among which is the application
of bioplastics in the rubber industry. For applications in the
rubber industry, Maxrich has been working with the Office of
the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund (ORRAF), a state enterprise
under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. ORRAF
provide funds to rubber farmers for replanting. Thus ORRAF
and Maxrich have a mutual goal to replace petroleum-based
plastics used in the rubber industry with bioplastics. The
two parties cooperate to develop bioplastics products that
will replace polyethylene and polypropylene. The bioplastics
applications in natural rubber have been field tested in actual
plantation conditions. Some applications are as follow:
Bioplastics planting bags replace
polyethylene bags
Rubber trees are planted from bud-grafted root stocks
which have to be raised in nurseries for 6-12 months before
transferring into the ground. The traditional method is to
raise the bud-grafted root stocks in polyethylene bags. When
the root stocks are planted into the ground farmers cut open
the polyethylene bags. This process causes high mortality
rate to the root stocks due to damage to the root system. Also,
the polyethylene bags become litter in rubber plantations.
Polyethylene bags are not only environmentally hazardous but
also obstruct the natural flow of rain water. The bud-grafted
root stocks come from special clones and hence are highly
priced.
Maxrich and ORRAF have jointly developed planting bags
from bioplastics such that the bags can be planted into the
ground with the root stocks. There is no need to cut the
bioplastics bags because they will degrade in soil allowing the
roots to grow outside of the bags. Other advantages are that
12 bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/14] Vol. 9