Biodegradable products at their best

The plastic industry has made a great leap forward with the introduction of bioplastics. New Zealand-owned Qingdao
Kiwi Bio-Plastic Co Ltd is a leading company dedicated to green plastic manufacturing. Utilising unique hybrid technology which was developed by Wells Plastics Ltd in Europe and introduced in Asia in 2005, Qingdao Kiwi Bio-Plastic Co., Ltd is committed to promote and supply the Reverte additives to China and other Asian markets. International Plastics News for Asia (IRNA) learned the latest developments on the company from Mr. Zheng Gongxian, President of Qingdao Kiwi Bio-Plastic Co Ltd.

IRNA: Kiwi entered the China market in 2005. Why did it prefer China as its entry point into the Asian market?
Mr. Zheng: Being Chinese, my parents and I have this desire to introduce the best products to our motherland. And with abundant environment-friendly materials available here, this has been possible. We started producing plastic bags in 1989 and the feedback from customers has been positive. We were also awarded as excellent entrepreneur in 1999 by the New Zealand government. However, plastic bags could not be degraded at that time and were regarded as white pollution, so we had to look for biodegradable plastics. Eventually, we cooperated with Wells Plastics Ltd and introduced their latest complete oxygen biodegradable plastic additive to China. At present, China market has a vague concept on biodegradable plastic so we hope that high-technology materials can be accepted.

IRNA: With many companies now producing biodegradable plastic products and building bioplastic plants in various provinces, what is your competitive advantage?
Mr. Zheng: Yes it is but as far as I know most environment-friendly plastic bags used in China are currently not totally biodegradable with the presence of plastic content. The starch used can be degraded, but the plastic inside cannot be degraded within a short period of time. Our Reverte additive is developed by our partner in the United Kingdom. By adding it, the price of the plastic products will only rise by 10% on the average without drastically altering the appearance.
The product still maintains very good physical properties of plastics such as high transparency, waterproof ability, printability and excellent strength. In addition, there is no need to replace the existing equipment, as the processor only needs to blend it using simple mixing process. The additives can be used in a wide range of plastic products, such as LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE, PP, BOPP, CPP and EVA. All these raw materials can be treated by our additives to make them totally biodegradable.

IRNA: What do you think are the challenges in this vast market?
Mr. Zheng: I feel that Chinese consumers still lack awareness on biodegradable plastics. We have difficulty initially for the first two years in promoting to the China market because customers were suspicious on biodegradable plastics. But we kept telling our employees and customers on the benefits of environment-friendly plastic. With the fast development of the Chinese plastics industry, many exporters eventually raised their requirements for environment-friendly plastics so manufacturers have begun developing this kind of plastic, thus pushing the development process for China's green plastics.
Currently, many plastic bags are exported from China, but domestic environment protection has been lacking even whilst exporters are now selling a number of environment-friendly products abroad. I think the reason for this phenomenon is not a cost factor, but the questWomens Nike Cortez