Bagasse it's a bit like paper, but without trees

Bagasse is a pretty amazing material as it actually comes from waste generated by the sugar industry, it has all the best properties of styrofoam but with none of the downsides, think of it as having all the good stuff you get from plastics but is sustainable, ethical and great for the planet, the term circular economy could almost of been invented for bagasse.

What makes Bagasse (aka Sugarcane) special

The environmental good bits

50% of the carbon footprint of their foam equivalent.
Breaks down naturally in home and commerical composters and even breaks down in layered landfills (thankfully not common these days).
Repurposed material, it's a waste product that is being reused.
Completely recyclable with paper as it has the same qualities as wood based products when used in the recycling stream.
None of the environmental downsides of foam, it's all upside as they break down into nutrient rich compost.

Benefits for your food business

Stronger and more durable material than foam, it's flexible and designed not to break.
Food Safe, grease resistant and great for hot and cold foods.
Perfect for ovens, hot cabinets, freezers and liquid based foods or even when used in a fridge (-10°C to 200°F (93°C).
Natural material that breaths so your foods don't sweat and your foods keep their temperature for longer
Clip shut lids means they are great for home deliveries.
Obviously an environmentally positive product which reflects perfectly on your business, .and as one in three consumers will choose a business based on their sustainability , you can use these containers as a way of attracting new customers.

The production bit

Bagasse is a bit of an all rounder as it can be used for packaging and can be used as a bio fuel, so it's fibrous properties make it great for our products but also great for turning into bio fuels.

It takes a year for sugarcane to grow to the right size for harvesting and the sugarcane is turned into a extremely sweet liquid and the waste bits are mixed with water to form a bagasse pulp, pretty much the same as paper.
Compounds are added (don't worry it's perfectly harmless stuff but needed to help it to keep it's shape and strength) and then it is pressed into a shape using pressure at a high temperature.
You are left with a container that is plant based, renewable circular, recyclable (if recycled properly) and it's microwaveable and safe at high and low temperatures.

We have created a nice picture to show you how this all works.

The environmental bit

Bagasse is as mentioned a plant based material which means its a natural solution to the un-natural problem of petrol based plastics , it's meets the following standards.

EU & UK EN13432 certified as compostable.
US ASTM D6400 certified as compostable.
Australian AS5810 certified as compostable.

To meet these standards it must decompose with 30 to 90 days without leaving toxic contamination and turn into nutrient rich compost.

It comes from a naturally renewable and sustainable material and due to it's rapid growth rate, it grows much more rapidly than trees, so it's a great alternative to deforestation.

We probably don't need to tell you, but deforestation is a huge problem but to state the obvious, if you cut down trees, they can't absorb carbon, in fact wood production alone constitutes the loss of 380,000* hectares, which can be as much as 950000000** trees, that's a lot of carbon ( we tried to work it out but our calculator just didn't have enough digits.

The disposal bit

Bagasse is a very versatile material as it can be home composted, commerically composted or even recycled with your cardboard waste, it is a great all rounders, we always recommend composting as it adds positively to the environmental and reduces our usage of grow bags so composting is the best outcome, but no matter which route your customers choose, their is only environmental upsides.

We often get asked “what happens if it ends up in the normal waste” , well the answer to this is simple(ish), depending on where you live, it will either go to a waste disposal site ( thankfully this is becoming less and less common) or a Energy for Waste facility (EFW) to make renewable and non toxic energy or end up in your recycling and gets made into paper.

So it's still a winner, but composting is always the best option (I know we have mentioned this before but it's such an important point it's worth mentioning again) as its completely circular and the compost created can be used to eliminate peat based compost, which is really really bad for the planet.

Here's a simply way of explaining the waste process.