1. Starch:
Disadvantages: The anti-mildew technology has not been solved yet, and the cost is too high. Even if the technology passes in the future, it will be difficult to form a market because my country is a food-deficient country.
2. Double-degradable plastics:
Disadvantages: This kind of tableware only adds photosensitizers and starch to the plastic, and the added part is degradable, but the plastic part is still not degradable, so it is not a true green environmental protection product and should not be promoted.
3. Pulp category:
Disadvantages: A. A paper mold lunch box weighs 25 grams and costs 0.35 yuan. A daily production of 40,000 lunch boxes requires one ton of pulp, which is equivalent to cutting trees over a ton. It is calculated by 300 working days a year. The felling of nearly 300 cubic meters of trees is undoubtedly worse for our country, which is already poor in forests, and the resulting soil erosion and land desertification are even more unimaginable.
B. In addition, the price is too high for consumers to accept.
C. It is not suitable to take soup, because the toughness is not enough.
4. Plant fiber.
Advantages: First, the source is renewable resources; second, it will not pollute the environment during the formation process and after it is abandoned; third, it saves resources during the reproduction process. Plant fiber disposable tableware is made of annual herb straw fiber.
Disadvantages: The output is not large, and it is difficult to buy in the market.
With the in-depth advancement of plastic restriction policies and the growing awareness of environmental protection, environmentally friendly lunch boxes have become an important part of the green transformation of the catering industry. However, not all products labeled "environmentally friendly" can truly achieve ecological protection goals. At present, the mainstream environmentally friendly lunch boxes in the market can be divided into four categories: starch-based, double-degradable plastic, pulp-based, and plant fiber-based. Each category has distinct characteristics, and most of them have obvious limitations in practical application. Understanding their advantages and disadvantages is crucial for rational selection and industry development.
1. Starch-Based Lunch Boxes: Practical Dilemmas Difficult to Break Through
Starch-based lunch boxes take starch as the core raw material, supplemented by appropriate additives to form degradable packaging products. Theoretically, they have the environmental attribute of being degradable, which can reduce the dependence on petroleum resources. However, this type of lunch box has not yet overcome key practical difficulties, resulting in it being difficult to popularize on a large scale.
The disadvantages of starch-based to go lunch boxes are prominent and difficult to ignore. Firstly, the anti-mildew technology has not been solved. As a natural organic substance, starch is extremely prone to mildew and deterioration under normal storage conditions, which not only seriously shortens the shelf life of the lunch boxes but also may cause potential food safety hazards after mildew. Secondly, the production cost is too high. The processing and modification process of starch raw materials is complex, leading to the production cost of starch-based lunch boxes being much higher than that of traditional plastic lunch boxes and even other types of environmentally friendly lunch boxes, which greatly reduces their market competitiveness. Thirdly, it is not compatible with the national resource endowment. China is a food-deficient country, and starch is mainly derived from food crops such as corn and potatoes. Large-scale production of starch-based lunch boxes will inevitably occupy valuable food resources, which conflicts with the national food security strategy. Even if the anti-mildew technology matures in the future, it will still be difficult to form a large-scale market due to the dual constraints of food resources and cost.
2. Double-Degradable Plastic Lunch Boxes: False Environmental Protection That Should Not Be Promoted
Double-degradable plastic lunch boxes are a type of modified plastic product that claims to have "degradable performance". Their production principle is to add photosensitizers and starch to traditional non-degradable plastics, trying to achieve the so-called "degradation" effect through the decomposition of the added components.
However, this type of lunch box is not a true green and environmentally friendly product, and its essence is a kind of false environmental protection. The core disadvantage lies in its incomplete degradation: only the added starch and other components can be degraded under specific conditions, while the main plastic part still cannot be decomposed. After the added components are degraded, the remaining plastic fragments will still exist in the environment for a long time, causing persistent white pollution. This kind of product misleads consumers with the concept of "degradation" and fails to solve the fundamental environmental problems of plastic packaging. Therefore, double-degradable plastic lunch boxes do not meet the core requirements of environmental protection and should not be promoted in the market.
3. Pulp-Based Lunch Boxes: High Resource Consumption and Poor Practicality
Pulp-based lunch boxes, also known as paper mold lunch boxes, are made of plant fiber pulp (such as wood pulp, sugarcane pulp, etc.) through processes such as molding, pressing, and drying. They are regarded as classic, environmentally friendly products due to their renewable raw material sources, but they have obvious drawbacks in resource consumption and practical performance.
The disadvantages of pulp-based lunch boxes are mainly reflected in three aspects. Firstly, the resource consumption is huge and harmful to the ecological environment. A single paper mold lunch box weighs about 25 grams and costs 0.35 yuan. Producing 40,000 lunch boxes per day requires 1 ton of pulp, which is equivalent to cutting down a large number of trees. Calculated based on 300 working days a year, nearly 300 cubic meters of trees will be felled annually. For China, which is already poor in forest resources, this large-scale tree felling will further exacerbate soil erosion and land desertification, causing irreversible damage to the ecological environment. Secondly, the price is too high for consumers to accept. Compared with traditional plastic lunch boxes, the price of pulp-based lunch boxes is several times higher, which increases the operating cost of catering enterprises and also brings economic pressure to consumers. Thirdly, the practical performance is poor, and it is not suitable for holding soup. The toughness of pulp-based lunch boxes is insufficient, and they are prone to softening and leaking when in contact with soup or high-temperature food for a long time, which cannot meet the needs of catering scenarios with soup-rich meals.
4. Plant Fiber-Based Lunch Boxes: Excellent Environmental Performance but Limited Output
Plant fiber-based lunch boxes are made of annual herb straw fiber (such as sugarcane bagasse, corn stover, rice husk, etc.) as raw materials through processes such as crushing, pulping, and molding. Compared with the other three types, this type of lunch box has obvious environmental advantages and is a more promising environmentally friendly packaging product.
The advantages of plant fiber-based lunch boxes are prominent. Firstly, the raw material sources are renewable resources. The raw materials are agricultural and forestry wastes, which not only realize the recycling of waste resources but also do not occupy valuable food or forest resources. Secondly, they are environmentally friendly throughout the life cycle. They do not produce pollution during the production process, and after being discarded, they can be completely degraded in the natural environment without causing environmental pollution. Thirdly, the resource utilization rate is high. The reproduction process of raw materials (annual herbs) saves resources compared with trees that take decades to grow. However, plant fiber-based lunch boxes also have obvious limitations: the current output is not large, and the production scale is limited, making them difficult to buy in the mainstream market, which restricts their large-scale popularization and application.
Rational Selection Based on Environmental Protection and Practical Needs
The four categories of environmentally friendly lunch boxes have their own characteristics, but most of them have obvious limitations, except for the excellent environmental performance of plant fiber-based ones. Starch-based lunch boxes are trapped by anti-mildew technology and cost issues; double-degradable plastic lunch boxes are false environmental protection and should be rejected; pulp-based lunch boxes have high resource consumption and poor practicality; plant fiber-based lunch boxes have excellent environmental performance, but are restricted by output.
For the catering industry and consumers, when choosing environmentally friendly lunch boxes, they should avoid blind pursuit of the "environmentally friendly" label and instead make rational choices based on actual needs and true environmental protection effects. For the industry, it is necessary to increase the research and development of plant fiber-based lunch box production technology, expand the production scale, and solve the problem of difficult purchase; at the same time, it is necessary to standardize the market order and eliminate false environmental protection products such as double-degradable plastic lunch boxes. Only in this way can the environmentally friendly lunch box industry truly play a role in promoting the green transformation of the catering industry and protecting the ecological environment.
