FIRST BIOPLASTIC APPLICATION IN AGRICULTURE Thailand implemented - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

BIOPLASTICS APPLICATION

IN AGRICULTURE

Presented by : Global Biopolymers Co., Ltd. 194 Lard Proa 80 yak 14, Wangthonglang, Bangkok, THAILAND

• www. bioplasticpackages.com ; www.global

biopolymers.com E-mail: info@bioplasticpackages.com; info@globalbiopolymers.com info@biodegrade-pack.com

FIRST EXPOSURE TO BIOPLASTIC

 Geotextiles used in soil

hardening

 Prefabricated Vertical

Drain (PVD)

 Construction of runways

at Suvarnabhumi airport

 Use PVD made from

non-woven and plastic core- not biodegradable

 Bioplastic PVD

considered but not available

 Geotextiles PVD used for

runway soil hardening

FIRST BIOPLASTIC APPLICATION IN AGRICULTURE

 Thailand implemented the diversification of rubber

plantations to north and northeast provinces

 Rubbers are traditionally grown in south and eastern

provinces

 Diversification project in north and northeast cover

area of 1 million rais (160,000 hectares)

 90 million new rubber trees are to be planted  Rainfall, climate, knowledge are less favorable  First attempt was a complete failure with more than

50% death rate

 Bioplastic planting bags were tested to reduce

mortalities

FACTS ABOUT THAILAND’S NATURAL RUBBER (NR)

 Thailand is the biggest

natural rubber producer supplying 37% of world’s NR

 Thailand NR agriculture

managed by Office of the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund (ORRAF)

 ORRAF is a state

enterprise under Min. of Agriculture and Cooperatives

 2 million families of rubber

farmers,1200 cooperatives

 1,500 million rubber trees

grown in Thailand

BIOPLASTIC APPLICATIONS IN RUBBER DIVERSIFICATION PROJECT

 Young rubber trees are

planted in plastic nursery bags

 Plastic bags are removed

causing death from root damage

 North and northeast have

irregular rainfall with dry intervals

 During dry intervals no

plastic bags to keep water- high mortality

 Test planting without

removing bag using bioplastic bags

 Reduce death rate, use less

fertilizer

 Over 100 million nursery bags

in use in Thailand

 Planting rubber with

bioplastic bag

COMPARING PE BAG AND BIOPLASTICS

BAG IN RUBBER PLANTING

 Have to cut open PE bag

before planting- more manual work

 More rubber trees die from

root system damage

 Difficult to find clay-like soil  PE bags become litters in the

plantation- cause environment problem and prevent flow of water

 Use more fertilizer due to

rain water wash out

 Bioplastics bag can be planted

with rubber tree without cutting-save manual labor

 Bioplastics bag keep root

system intact-more survival

 Bioplastics bags disintegrate

in soil – no litters problem

 Bioplastics bag prevent rain

water to wash out fertilizer

 Bioplastics bag keep moisture

during rain break

 Benefits outweigh higher cost

PE Bag Bioplastics bag

BIOPLASTIC APPLICATION-ROOT TRAINERS FOR RUBBER TREE

 Root trainer is used in

place of nursery bag

 Root trainer directs the

roots to grow vertically

 Rubbers grown from root

trainers have longer live, higher latex

 Rubbers grown from root

trainers stand against typhoon

 Root trainers reduce death

rate during transport

 18 million root trainers

required per year

 Rubbers in root trainers

ROOT TRAINER IS NEW TECHNOLOGY TO

INCREASE LATEX YIELD AND EXTEND RUBBER TREE LIFE SPAN

 Roots grown in root

trainer(right) vertically straight

 Roots grown from bag (left)

crooked, weak

 PP root trainers damage

the roots when pull out

 PP root trainers are waste

problem after use

 Bioplastic root trainers can

be planted with rubber

 EIRR of bioplastic root

trainers :costs > 5:1

Left –roots grown from bag Right- roots grown from root trainer

FIELD TESTING OF ROOT TRAINERS’

BIODEGRADABILTY

 First day of planting  3 months after

planting

BIOPLASTIC APPLICATION-MULCH FILM FOR WEEDS ERADICATION

 Mulch film used between

rows of rubber trees to control weeds and fire

 Replace use of chemical

weed killer

 Save weeds eradicating

labor

 No toxicity to ecology  No contaminated residue  Ploughed mulch films

make soil good for intercropping

 3,000 tons mulch

films/year

PLOUGHED BIOPLASTIC MULCH FILM HELP INTERCROPPING Pineapples intercropping in rubber plantation

BIOPLASTIC APPLICATION AS

GEOTEXTILES TO STOP SOIL EROSION

 NR plantation on slope

has soil erosion problem

 Traditional method is to

make ladders plantation

 Ladders plantation is

labor intensive with little mechanization

 Bioplastics non-woven

sheet stop soil erosion with much less labor

 Non-woven sheet

disintegrate after rubber trees grow

 More than 2,000

tons/year

RUBBER PLANTATIONS ON SLOPE HILL

 Planting rubbers on slope hill earth ladders to

prevent soil corrosion – high labor cost

BIOPLASTICS GEOTEXTILE STOP

SOIL EROSION

 Non-woven bioplastic

geotextile can stop soil erosion

 Rubbers can be planted on

bioplastic geotextile

 When rubbers grown their

roots hold the soil- erosion stop

 Bioplastic geotextile can be

ploughed with soil

 Geotextiles stop soil

erosion before planting

BIOPLASTIC S APPLICATION-

BUDDING TAPE TO REPLACE PE TAPE

 Rubber trees are propagated by

bud grafting from high yielding clone

 PE tapes are used to protect

grafted buds from disease

 PE tapes are cut to allow bud to

penetrate

 Wrong cutting causes buds death  Annually 16 millon out of 200

million buds die from wrong cutting

 Bioplastic tapes allow bud to

penetrate without cutting

 Saving high priced buds and

labor

 200 million tapes used per year

BIOPLASTIC LATEX COLLECTION CUPS

 Rubber latex is now

collected in plastic/ceramic cups

 Each year 300 million bowls

are replaced

 Plastic/ceramic cups are

uncompostable garbages

 Bioplastic cups can replace

plastic/ceramic bowls

 Bioplastic cups and leaves

composted as organic fertilizer

 Reduction of carbon

footprint in plantations a merit for GHG and FSC

CERAMIC/ PLASTIC/ COCONUT SHELL/ BIOPLASTICS

 Ceramic/Plastic

not compostable

 Coconut shell –

compostable but limited

BIOPLASTICS LATEX COLLECTION CUPS

 Made from compound

• f bioplastic + natural

rubber

 Lighter, easy cleaning,

not broken

 Compostable with

leaves after use

 Use as organic

fertilizer

BIOPLASTICS WRAPPERS FOR RUBBER

BLOCKS

 Rubber blocks are now

white painted or wrapped in PE wrappers to prevent mold growth

 PE wrappers are removed

as waste before processing

 Bioplastic wrappers can

replace PE wrappers

 Higher cost of bioplastic is

a fraction of the rubber blocks.

 75 million wrappers are

used annually

IMPLEMENT BIOPLASTICS APPLICATION

WITH FARMERS

GLOBAL BIOPOLYMERS GLOBAL BIOPOLYMERS STRATEGIC PARTNERS  DEVELOP PRODUCTS  EDUCATE FARMERS  FILED TESTING 1200 FARMER COOPERATIVES 2 MILLION FARMERS  IMPLEMENTING APPLICATIONS  MONITOR RESULTS  GET ACCEPTANCE APPLICATIONS SATISFACTORY?  FIND APPLICATION PROBLEM  FARMER CORRECT PROBLEM  GET FARMERS SUGGESSION GET MIN. OF AGRICULTURE’S FUNDING REDESIGN PRODUCTS YES NO

BIOPLASTIC OPPORTUNITIES IN OTHER

AGRICULTURES

 Rice : Seedling trays, consumer packages  Oil palm : seedling bags, plantation plastics, consumer

bottles

 Eucalyptus : seedling tubes, seedling trays  Fruit orchards : seedling trays, nursery pots, consumer

packages

 Flowers : orchid pots, seedling trays, flower pots, wrappers  Aqua cultures : Spawn bags,farm nets, pond linings,

consumer packages

 Agriculture chemicals : vitamin bottles, plant medicine

packages, nutrient packages, fishery food packages

 Reforestation : packages for aerial dropped seeds

BENEFITS OF BIOPLASTIC IN

AGRICULTURE

 Reduce plastic wastes in plantations  Reduce planting labors  Reduce mortality rates  Reduce use of fertilizers , weed killers, insecticides  Better plantation management  Better merits for GHG and FSC  Better social and economics impact on farmer

communities

 Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR)

• utweighs the additional material costs

BIOPLASTICS LEARNING CENTER

 Bioplastics is non traditional - Little experience  Establish a knowledge center for bioplastics  Provide facilities for users to learn about

bioplastics

 To be an incubator for developing bioplastics

applications

 Provide technical supports and extension services

to bioplastics users

 Center for cross fertilization of bioplastics

applications

THAILAND’S BIOPLASTICS IN AGRICULTURE

 From Cocoon to Butterfly