Renewable resources Bamboo is increasingly replacing plastic in China

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Plastic in the oceans, plastic in the human body, plastic everywhere. Chinese scientists have now developed a new method to process bamboo into a biodegradable plastic substitute.

Henrik Bork, long-time China correspondent for Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau, is the Managing Director at Asia Waypoint, a consulting agency specializing in China, based in Beijing. "China Market Insider" is a joint project of Vogel Communications Group, Würzburg, and Jigong Vogel Media Advertising in Beijing.

The new "bamboo plastic" from China, as it is already being called in media reports, has for the first time plasticity and self-adhesive properties similar to those of PVC, write the Chinese scientists in a paper published in the magazine ACS Nano of the American Chemical Society.

"This study presents a viable approach to enhancing the plasticity of bamboo by selectively removing part of its lignin and disrupting the crystalline structure of the cellulose," write the researchers from the "China National Bamboo Research Centre" at the University of Agriculture and Forestry in Fujian in their paper.

Similar properties to thermosetting plastic

Lignins are phenolic macromolecules that cause a kind of lignification of the plant cell walls, thereby providing their compressive strength and rigidity. The Chinese researchers have found a way to remove it and transform the thus "activated" bamboo into a substance resembling thermosetting plastic, it was stated.

In a second production step, the already transformed cellulose was oxidized with sodium perborate. This increased the reactivity of the bamboo.

After a hot pressing process, the bamboo can then be transformed into a kind of thermosetting plastic (ABTP). It is highly water-resistant, has a tensile strength of 50 MPa and a flexural strength of 80 MPa, according to the researchers. A Shore hardness of almost 90 means that the new material is as hard as polystyrene (PS), phenolic resin, and PVC, reports the Chinese science portal Kexue Wang.

The plastic substitute obtained completely from bamboo is highly malleable and suitable for producing "a wide range of products," such as computer and smartphone cases, components of headphones, or consumer goods like spoons or hats, according to the researchers.

Bamboo products have the potential to replace petroleum-based plastics in various application scenarios.

Researchers from the „China National Bamboo Research Centre“

Bamboo plastic completely biodegradable

"These products have the potential to replace petroleum-based plastics in various application scenarios," writes the research team. Unlike conventional plastic, which can last for hundreds of years, it is completely biodegradable.

In soil burial experiments, the new "bamboo plastic" dissolved within about 90 days, report Chinese specialist media. This should give hope to those concerned about the approximately 400 million tons of plastic waste that currently accumulate annually, as reported by the United Nations Environment Programme.

7.56 million square hectares of bamboo are present in China

There is plenty of bamboo in China. At the last count in 2021, there were 7.56 million square hectares, or just over 3.3 percent of the country's total forest area. No other country on Earth has as much bamboo. Therefore, it would take many years for pandas to run out of food if the use of bamboo as a plastic substitute were to be accelerated.

For several years, the Chinese government has been promoting this, and bamboo toothbrushes and cutlery are increasingly found in the country's hotels and restaurants. Together with the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization, the Beijing central government launched a "Global Action Plan for Bamboo as a Substitute for Plastic (2023 - 2023)" in November 2023.

The bamboo industry in the country already counts around 10,000 companies and is growing rapidly, even though it is still in its infancy overall. There are still a number of problems to be solved, including the mechanization of bamboo harvesting. Currently, bamboo groves are cut by hand, which obviously stands in the way of real scaling for industrial applications.

The true potential of bamboo as a substitute for plastic depends on whether technological advances can demonstrate high value creation for the material.

Professor Wang Yixiang from Zhejiang Forestry University

Technological barriers overcome

One reason why bamboo has so far only been able to establish itself as a plastic substitute to a limited extent were precisely those technological hurdles in its further processing, which the research team from Fujian has now been able to overcome. "The true potential of bamboo as a substitute for plastic depends on whether technological advances can demonstrate high value creation for the material," the state news agency Xinhua quotes Professor Wang Yixiang from Zhejiang Forestry University.

Another reason is, of course, the higher costs for all products that could replace the currently unbeatably cheap and practical plastic. Only when scaling to a significant extent can take place will this change.

The hopes that China's bamboo industry will soon really take off have just received new impetus. Bamboo grows to a size in just three years that makes its processing viable. Only a fraction of all natural bamboo forests in China are currently being utilized. Additionally, Beijing is already experimenting with plantations along highways and country roads.

Climate goals fuel bamboo enthusiasm in China

By 2025, the Chinese government plans to establish five to ten demonstration zones where bamboo will be harvested for all sorts of research.

One motive for the bamboo enthusiasm in Beijing is the climate goals that the country has set. Chinese experts have calculated that for every 100 million tons of bamboo used to replace PVC products, about 600 million tons less carbon dioxide would be emitted into the atmosphere.