The emergence of plastic products has brought great convenience to people's lives, but due to the characteristics of non-degradable and difficult-to-degrade plastic products, it has also brought serious threats to nature and human beings. According to relevant statistics, more than 70% of the disposable plastic products produced in the world will be directly discarded into the soil, air and ocean; 80% of the disposable plastic products will eventually enter the ocean. The total amount of plastic will exceed that of fish.

Research and development of alternatives to plastic products, so as to protect the environment and achieve sustainable development, has become the current focus.

The rise of "replacing plastic with bamboo"

While plastic is a useful product, many of these products are single-use, with an estimated 50% of plastic products being single-use. This is not only harmful to the environment and oceans, but also to wildlife: it affects nearly 700 marine species and humans, and according to Ocean Conservancy, plastic has been found in more than 60 percent of seabirds and 100 percent of sea turtles. Ingesting plastic is life-threatening to wildlife, and the plastic can end up in people. According to a recent Belgian study, Brits ingest 11,000 pieces of plastic every year through fish consumption.

Currently, only 9% of plastic is recycled globally. And most plastics are neither recyclable nor biodegradable, typically taking more than 400 years to fully degrade. At present, many companies have begun to study how to overcome plastic pollution, but it will take time to use it on a large scale.

To this end, countries around the world are developing alternatives to disposable plastic products, or promulgating bans to prohibit the use of disposable plastic products. In March 2019, the European Parliament passed the "Comprehensive Plastic Ban Order". From 2021, the EU will ban the production and sale of disposable plastic products. New Zealand will gradually ban disposable plastic shopping bags from 2019. Chile officially promulgated the "Plastic Ban Law" in August 2018, becoming the first country in Latin America to completely ban businesses from providing plastic bags to shoppers. Since July 1, 2018, most states in Australia have banned retailers from providing single-use plastic bags to customers. India plans to eliminate all single-use plastic products by 2022.

In addition, the United Kingdom, Canada, and South Korea have also introduced policies to restrict the use of plastic products. Some international business companies have also announced that they will reduce the use of plastic products. Starbucks will completely ban the use of plastic straws in its 28,000 stores by 2020; McDonald's announced that its British and Irish branches will replace all plastic straws with paper straws from September 2018; IKEA (IKEA) Commitment to stop selling single-use plastic products by 2020; some major airlines in the United States have announced that they will no longer provide plastic straws and stirring rods in the cabin or lounge, and will use paper or bamboo products instead.

In response to the "white pollution" caused by plastics, my country issued an upgraded version of the "Plastic Restriction Order", and once again clarified the timetable: in 2020, it will take the lead in banning and restricting the production, sales and use of some plastic products in some regions and fields; The consumption of plastic products has been significantly reduced, and alternative products have been promoted; by 2025, the management system for the production, distribution, consumption, and recycling of plastic products will be basically established, a multi-dimensional co-governance system will be basically formed, and plastic pollution will be effectively controlled. And make deployments for the phased goals and tasks at the end of 2020, clearly prohibiting the production and sale of disposable plastic cotton swabs, disposable foamed plastic tableware, non-degradable plastic bags, non-degradable plastic tableware, and non-degradable plastic straws.

Therefore, in view of the characteristics of rapid growth, degradability, sustainability and recyclability of bamboo, bamboo products can be used instead of plastic products.

Industry insiders pointed out that the advantages of bamboo to replace plastics are reflected in the following points: First, bamboo grows very fast, it is the fastest growing plant in the world, and its output is relatively high. A Japanese professor recorded that bamboo grew 1.21 meters in 24 hours; second, bamboo has many uses, related to food, clothing, housing and transportation, and there are some unknown and undeveloped uses of bamboo. Third, bamboo has almost no waste, and can be used from bamboo leaves to bamboo roots, and bamboo waste can also be used as carbon raw materials; fourth, the current treatment methods of plastic waste are mainly used for landfill and return to water bodies, rivers and oceans. Marine life and human health will cause great harm. Plastic threatens the earth and human beings. The global ban on plastic has become inevitable, so it is very necessary to replace plastic with bamboo.

Application opportunities of "substituting bamboo for plastic"

Bamboo is a fast-growing renewable and environmentally friendly material. There are more than 100 series and tens of thousands of varieties of bamboo products that have been developed so far. It is expected to become the best substitute for plastic.

"Replacing plastic with bamboo" will bring unlimited business opportunities for bamboo products, and bamboo products as a substitute will also bring new growth points for bamboo and wood enterprises. It is understood that bamboo products can replace plastic products in many fields, including daily necessities, packaging, building materials and automotive materials.

Application cases of "substituting bamboo for plastic":

Bamboo straws replace plastic straws. Bamboo straws are naturally hollow, and are generally made of arrow bamboo as a raw material after being carbonized with high-temperature steam. One arrow bamboo plant can produce about 8 bamboo straws with different calibers.

Bamboo keyboard and bamboo mouse replace plastic keyboard and plastic mouse. Prior to this, bamboo and wood companies have launched bamboo keyboards, bamboo mice, bamboo U disks, and bamboo monitor shells. For example, the production process of the bamboo keyboard requires exquisite craftsmanship, and it needs to go through more than 40 processes, such as modifying the bamboo and pressing it, pressing the keys with bamboo boards, engraving and painting with an engraving machine, and assembling with a conductive film. Bamboo keyboard, finally realized that the frame, bottom plate, and keys of the keyboard use natural bamboo materials to replace traditional plastic keyboards.

The bamboo winding composite material is made of bamboo strips and is prepared by winding technology. This kind of bamboo winding pipe has multiple advantages such as renewable raw materials and degradable products, and can replace some plastic building materials for use in urban water supply systems. In the future, bamboo winding composite materials will widely replace steel, cement, plastic and other high energy consumption and high pollution materials, and it is a new industry that promotes sustainable development.

Bamboo environmental tableware replaces disposable plastic tableware. Bamboo environmental protection tableware is made of bamboo strips, bamboo charcoal or bamboo fiber. Bamboo tableware can be directly used in microwave ovens, ovens and refrigerators without the precipitation of toxic substances. This tableware can be naturally decomposed and absorbed by the soil after use. It can be recycled and shredded to be used as fertilizer or made into products such as egg trays.

In addition, there is also bamboo fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite material, which is an excellent lightweight raw material with the advantages of light weight and high strength, suitable for modular design, reduced number of parts and processes, flexible design and corrosion resistance. An excellent choice for quantifying materials.

At the same time, the research team of Zhou Jianbo of the Beijing Forestry Machinery Research Institute of the National Forestry and Grassland Bureau, after many years, successfully developed the first domestic "bamboo and wood fork and spoon tableware molding technology equipment" and "bamboo and wood knife, fork and spoon tableware negative pressure punching Technical equipment" two scientific and technological achievements.

Bamboo wood knife, fork and spoon tableware negative pressure punching technology equipment has developed ultra-thin bamboo wood chip automatic feeding, punching and cutting two-way linkage system, negative pressure adsorption positioning system, up and down reciprocating punching system, automatic sorting and discharging system, each system Coordinated operation, punching efficiency of more than 300 sets per minute. As for the molding technology and equipment of bamboo and wood forks and spoons, the innovative design of concave and convex cavities are evenly distributed and staggered, and the pressure bearing system is evenly applied, which breaks through the technical bottleneck of ultra-thin bamboo slices with special-shaped molding and is easy to crack, and greatly improves the quality of bamboo and wood forks and spoons. Excellent molding processing efficiency and shaping quality have significantly reduced the scrap rate, the processing efficiency is as high as 126 sets per minute, and the product qualification rate is higher than 95%, realizing the standardization of tableware molding and factory-like assembly line production.

At present, the series of equipment products have been produced and sold to more than 20 countries and regions such as Vietnam, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Poland, and Italy, and have become a landmark product to promote the development of the "replacing plastic with bamboo" industry.

In short, "replacing plastic with bamboo" can alleviate the global plastic pollution problem, which will also bring new benefits to bamboo and wood companies and drive the development of the bamboo industry.