EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This paper provides an analysis and evaluation of the current economic, environmental and productivity of plastic food packaging. It largely focuses on a general proposal on environmentally friendly substitutes for food packaging in the precise form of recommending an alternative material bread clip for possible adoption by bread companies. This paper further substantiates the recommendation with key findings that analyses a need, examines feasibility and lastly considers implementation issues. Furthermore, this paper will address team challenges in the area of leadership and team building, documenting individual and group experiences with team dynamics in the form of member and group reflections.
This paper examines a recommendation that is written in persuasion of adoption by bread companies to discontinue the use of plastic bread clips with an environmentally friendly substitute of bagasse bread clips. The recommendation mainly discusses the conceptual idea of bagasse bread clips, the benefits of bagasse as a material and lastly the application process to produce them.
Lastly, this paper is limited in its sourcing of references and data. Some limitations include unwillingness of data disclosure in stakeholder interviews that lead to estimations that may lack exactness albeit logical in analysis.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Plastic Problem
Introducing Plastics
Plastics are one of the most versatile materials used by a vast population of the world. They are versatile because they have many uses and are also extremely low in cost. There are many types of plastic material such as polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyester (PES), etc. They can be found in different shapes, types and colours (eMachineShop, 2016).
Properties of plastic
Plastics are non-biodegradable, i.e. they do not break down naturally. They are resistant to corrosion and chemicals, have low electrical and thermal conductivity and are easy to manufacture. Their low manufacturing cost is the reason they are extremely cheap in cost and so widely applied. Moreover, they are mostly water-proof, thus contributing to its versatility (eMachineShop, 2016).
Problem with plastics usage in Singapore
A key environmental issue in Singapore is the high proportion of plastic waste disposed, and its low recycling rates, resulting in landfill constraints and pollution.
Therefore, our proposal aims to alleviate these existing plastic problems through the use of bagasse bread clips, albeit a small aspect of the large plastic waste problem.
(i). Landfill.
There is only one landfill site remaining in Singapore – the Semakau landfill site. Approximately 200,000 tonnes of solid waste and incineration are sent to Semakau landfill every year. However, the landfill will likely be filled up by 2035 (Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, 2016). It is also unfeasible for Singapore to keep building landfills to accommodate our increasing amount of trash given limited land and increasing population and waste disposed per person.
Figure 1.1: Graph of Waste and Recycling Statistics for 2015, in Singapore (Self-generated)
The statistics in Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2 are provided by the National Environment Agency for the year 2015. As seen on the graph, plastics have the highest weight of waste disposed of – 766,800 tonnes to be exact. Along with having a significantly high mass of waste generated (824,600 tonnes), it has an alarmingly low mass of waste that is actually recycled (57,800 tonnes). Moreover, as seen in Figure 1.2 below, it has a 7% recycling rate, which when compared to other waste products, has one of the lowest rates.
Figure 1.2: Graph of Recycling statistics in Singapore, 2015 (Self-generated)
Therefore, with plastic being the largest type of waste generated and yet least recycled, the inadequacy of Singapore landfills in meeting the output of waste is emphasised, and any reduction of plastic waste will be a step in addressing this landfill problem.
(ii) Pollution
Plastics are one of the biggest sources of pollution globally. They contribute to air, land and water pollution, endangering the lives of animals when ill-disposed or incinerated. They take between 20-1000 years to disintegrate and even so, they do not fully break down but merely break into smaller, more toxic pieces.
Plastics and air pollution
When burnt, plastics release hazardous gaseous emissions (Terry, 2016). Burning plastics can release dioxins which are a known human carcinogen and “most potent synthetic carcinogen ever tested in the laboratory animals” (Soffar, 2015).
Plastics and water & land pollution
There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. 269,000 tonnes of these floats on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer litter the deep sea (Parker, 2015).
Marine animals get tangled up amongst the plastic debris, or consume it on the mistaken assumption for food, leading to death. Moreover, approximately 1 million sea birds also die from plastic consumption (Ocean Crusaders, 2015).
Key Stakeholders
Kwik-Lok
Kwik-Lok is the originator of the first all-plastic bag closure formed in the USA with several branches around the world including Japan and Australia. The organization provides packaging closure, labels and printing options to their clients. The labels can be custom printed to the clients’ exact graphic specifications. The machines Kwik Lok uses are either automatic or semi-automatic and hence provide a very efficient means of sealing the bread packages together. The print is compartmentalized in an “easy in easy out” snap-in cartridge which makes it easy for operators to use on their closing head to close their bags. Utilizing a computer also allows it to print real time onto the closure (Kwik Lok Corporation, 2015).
Gardenia
Gardenia is Singapore’s premiere sandwich loaf bakery. It is the market leader of bread in Singapore with 30% market share. Gardenia produces 10,000 loaves of bread/hour using an automatic slicer and bagger. It is one of Kwik Lok Corporations’ clients and uses the bread clips to seal their bread packages, on-site. Bread production in Gardenia takes 8 hours to complete to ensure freshness and quality of its various bread products.
BioGreenChoice
BioGreenChoice is an American green technology corporation that specializes in high quality environmentally green packaging products from material such as bagasse(sugarcane) that are highly compostable for commercial use in schools, restaurants, hospitals and homes. (BioGreenChoice, 2016). A great deal of focus on growing their distributor network leaves them open to distributorship enquires with a goal of making such green products affordable for any organization.
NEEDS ANALYSIS
Plastic Bread Clips
Plastic bread clips are devices used to seal bread packages in air-tight bags to ensure its freshness. They are mostly color-coded to allow customers to know how fresh the bread is. For example, information on when the bread was baked and when it should be consumed by is typically printed onto it. In addition, the cost of bread is also mentioned on it.
Bread clips as a small plastic
There are approximately 1.2 million households in Singapore. Assuming each of these households purchase 1 loaf of bread per week, it will add up to about 62.4 million bread clips that are disposed on a yearly basis solely from household purcahses.
This is a big issue mainly because consumers do not think of recycling these small plastic clips.
As mentioned earlier, it takes between 20-1000 years for plastic to break into smaller pieces and are often hard to recycle and are usually overlooked in the recycling process.
As established earlier, plastics is a problem that needs to be addressed and there is a need to tackle plastic bread clips in particular because of the landfill and pollution issue it causes and the fact that current measures to tackle these problems are insufficient
Landfill Issue
As mentioned, landfill space is a scarce commodity in Singapore and this issue applies similarly to as small plastic like plastic bread clips. With an estimated 62.4 million clips a year (generated from solely households), it has a compounding effect on the space of landfills that needs to be addressed. Even though the size of one bread clip is negligible, collectively, it could potentially take up a lot of space in Semakau.
Pollution Issue
As established earlier, pollution issues still arise from a small plastic like bread clips, in fact, because of its small size, it is easy for animals to identify it as food and accidentally consume it. Furthermore, it does not disintegrate as easily, thus posing the same problems as other plastics in general, regarding air pollution.
Current Measures Insufficient
Over the last 10 years, the government has raised a lot of awareness of reducing the usage of plastic. However, these methods are rather ineffective as they are voluntary and do little to get people to actually follow through. As a result, non-governmental organisations such as Zero Waste Sg has proposed charging users additional money if they want plastic bags in grocery stores. Moreover, companies like Ikea have done away with plastic bags altogether and encourage users to buy their reusable blue bags or bring their own bags (Lim, 2016).
These measures are effective to a certain extent as they mostly target the use of plastic bags specifically but not much of small plastics. No initiative has been launched by the government or any organizations to address the issue of small plastics and plastic bread clips specifically. Even though they may be small, in vast amounts, they still cause the same problems as general plastics do and more often is harder an issue to tackle.
RECOMMENDATION
Bagasse Bread Clips
In this paper, we propose to utilize sugarcane fibre(bagasse) as the main constituent of our biodegradable bread clips. These bagasse bread clips will mimic existing bread clip shapes [Figure 2.1] to which the neck of bread plastic wrappers will be threaded through. This offers a myriad of options for purchasers can select the most appropriate shapes for their products. The surface of the bagasse bread clips will also reflect the date of expiry and price of the bread, coming in an assortment of colours that reflect the date of manufacture. [Figure 2.2]
(Figure 2.1) Different Shapes on Bread Clips (Retrieved from: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2011/09/23/after-one-colon-embedded-bread-clip-too-many-doctors-provide-design-analysis-call-for-reform/#.WABEuaNh0_U)
(Figure 2.2) Bagasse Bread Clip Prototype
Bagasse: The Material
Sugarcane bagasse is the fibrous residue that is left after the sugarcane stalk has been crushed and its juice removed. Because of its abundance and fibrous nature, it has been used in the production of biofuel, paper, pulp and agricultural uses such as animal feed. (Youn W. Han, January 1983) Bagasse is biodegradable as it is a natural material, comprising about approximately 50% cellulose and 25% of hemicellulose and lignin each (Balaji, Karthikeyen, & Raj, 2015). Also, it has proven to possess relatively ideal physical properties [Table 1], namely quick composting rates (1-3 months), high tensile strength, and waterproof properties which make it a suitable material to create biodegradable bread clips. (GreenHome, 2016)
Table 1: Physical Properties of Bagasse
• Quick composting rates: 1-3 months
• High tensile strength
• Waterproof
• Flexible
• Heat resistant up to 100˚C
• Water resistant
• Oil proof
• Microwave safe
• Freezer friendly
• Breathable
Bread Clips: The Application
The process of converting bagasse into the final product of bread clips will be discussed and executed in 4 steps. The 4 steps are as follows.
Step 1: Conversion (From raw bagasse to coloured bagasse plyboards)
Raw bagasse will be converted into pulp using the pulp machine. Upon placing the pulp paper board into the pulper, the pulp is then placed into a tank where it is then mixed with water and oil. Subsequently, it is channeled into another pulp supply tub for vacuum dewatering and forming. During the forming process, holes and uneven thickness are eliminated so as to reduce the chance of defective goods. The semi-finished product is then channeled into a drying mould where it solidifies. The next step is drying. The most efficient method is using steam for heat drying as compared to electrical heating.
Finally, the product is removed from the shaper and transferred to an edge cutting machine where the extra edge is trimmed off. In addition, UV sterilization is applied to ensure the hygiene requirement is met.
Based on current research conducted, Mehanny (2012) reported that bagasse fibres treated with emulsified corn starch improved both tensile and flexural strength, making this additive a suitable candidate to improve the mechanical properties of our bagasse bread clip.
To colour the plyboard, bagasse plyboards would be subject to adsorb colour dyes. (Handojo Djati Utomo, 2015)
Step 2: Cut-Out (Conversion of bagasse plyboard to bagasse bread clips)
To convert the bagasse plyboard to bagasse bread clips, the “cookie cutter” concept will be adopted. A customised mould [Fig 3] would be designed to cut out bread clips according to their specific shape and size from the bagasse plyboard. To minimise material wastage, the mould would be arranged as closely as possible according to the concept of tessellation. Any wastage of the plyboard would be recycled into pulp for the formation of new plyboards.
(Figure 3) Customised 12 x 8 bread clip mould
Step 3: Printing of relevant information on bread clips
An industrial ink stamping machine will be used to print the relevant information on the bagasse bread clips. [Fig 4] The high adsorption characteristic of bagasse clips (Section 4.3.1)and the high speed (300 bread clips/second), (Marking, 2016) enables this process to be carried out efficiently without hassle.
(Figure 4) Prototype of industrial printing machine (Retrieved from: http://www.sprintermarking.com/model_1010)
Step 4: Bagging
The finished bread clips will then be combined into cartridges, which will be shipped to bread companies for sealing of bread products. Cartridges can be installed in bag closing machines [Fig 5], which will seal bags at high rates up to about 80 bags per minute [Fig 6]. Gardenia currently uses a bag closing machine supplied by Kwik-lok, due to similar shape in exact dimension and width, we make the assumption that bagasse clips will be compatible with Gardenia’s current bag closing machine.
(Figure 5) Bread bags closing machine (Retrieved from: http://www.kwiklok.com/kwik-lok-bakery-equipment.php)
(Figure 6) Process of bread bag closing (Retrieved from: http://www.kwiklok.com)
Logistics
There are 3 options of how the production of bread clips could be done. [Table below] Given Gardenia’s strong profit margins, we recommend Gardenia to purchase already produced bagasse clips from a third-party producer.
IN-HOUSE HYBRID 3RD PARTY SUPPLIER
Production from scratch in Gardenia Production from imported bagasse plyboards in Gardenia Production from scratch in third party companies that produce bagasse products.
Not recommended
Switches Gardenia’s focus of producing bread to processing of raw bagasse just to produce bread tags, trade off of lost factory space etc. Not Recommended
Need to purchase cookie-cutter machinery to turn boards into clips. Requires factory space. Recommended
Engage 3rd party that already possesses raw bagasse processing machinery. Simply adds on cookie-cutting element to produce and export clips
In-House
Locally, major Bagasse suppliers that would be able to handle such an order do not exist and the main source of sugarcane pulp would be from hawker centres or food centres that are left with the sugarcane pulp after extracting the juice which is impractical due to the transportation, storing and conversion costs that it will entail. Furthermore, even if raw bagasse is purchased from suppliers, there is a need to covert the raw material in-house which will incur machinery costs such as hydraulic pulpers and vibration screens which are one of the many equipment necessary for the conversion of material.
Hybrid
This will entail purchasing bagasse ply boards from suppliers and implementing the cookie-cutting element of production to turn them into bread clips. The issue with this is that this requires costs of purchasing machinery and it takes up precious factory space for the production which will reduce productivity of bread production which should be the focus.
3rd Party Supplier
Given the high costs in carrying out independent production of Bagasse bread clips, the recommendation would be to engage a company like BioGreenChoice to fully manufacture and produce the bagasse bread clips. They already produce products like cups, plates, bowls and trays that are made using Bagasse which means all they require from is the cookie cutter element to cut out bread clips from bagasse. They have also explicitly stated that they are open to creating a long-term relationship with those who have an environmentally beneficial product to introduce into the market
FEASIBILITY
Functional Feasibility
Factors Functional Feasibility
Physical Properties Bagasse has strong tensile and flexural strength, strong adsorption properties. It has fast composting rates, and is highly biodegradable, which makes it an ideal candidate for the production of natural bread clip.
Material/Hygiene issues Ba Bagasse plyboards are highly storable, and will not attract pests despite its natural origin.
Functional Suitability Due to its high cellulose content, it is an efficient adsorbent of color dyes, which makes the process of dyeing and printing of information on the board highly efficient.
Given that bagasse products are 100% biodegradable, compostable and bagasse products are natural fibre products that can biodegrade in 30-60 days, when bagasse products degrade, they provide natural ingredients back to environment since they are made from natural, organic and renewable materials. Bagasse products are perfect alternatives to plastic products which can take thousands of years to degrade. (Harris, 2010)
Economic Feasibility
Table 2: Cost analysis of Bagasse Egg Trays (Retrieved from: http://www.egg-tray.com/cost.html)
General information Remark
Capacity 66240 pcs/d 2880 pcs/h, 22-24 hours per day
Raw Material 5300 kg/d 0.08 kg per box
Water 11500 kg/d
Electricity 2760 kwh/d
Labor 12 staffs/d 4 staffs per shift, 3 shifts per day
Coal 2400kg/d 100kg/h
Cost analysis
Quantity Unit Unit price $ Total price
Raw material 5300 kg 0.1 530
Water 11500 kg 0.0006 6.9
Electricity 2760 kwh 0.1 276
Labor 12 staff 20 240
Coal 2400 kg 0.18 432
Total 1485.9
Using the production of Bagasse egg trays as a cost analysis reference. It costs $1485.90(In terms of USD) for 66240 egg trays produced every day, that is $0.022 per Bagasse egg tray. Assuming that each Bagasse egg tray is equivalent to 50 bread clips, each Bagasse bread clip would then be approximately 0.044 cents. Assuming the the fixed cost of the machinery needed to manufacture bagasse bread clips is divided over millions of bread clips that is produced, this means that the fixed cost is negligible (economies of scale), and the final cost of each bread clip remains at 0.044 cents.
Operational Feasibility
In mentioned earlier, the operational requirements to purchase bread clips from third party suppliers are minimal and is what we recommend on a short-term basis. However, maximum operational feasibility and productive output can be achieved in-house in Gardenia factories and are summarised in the table below. It is easier for bread clips to be produced in third party companies, but import costs might be racked up in the long run therefore, if factory space is increased and machinery is purchased, it might be a worthwhile investment to produce the clips themselves in the near future but since the implementation of bagasse is in its experimental stages, it is most feasible to adopt the outsourced 3rd party supplier as discussed earlier.
Operational Feasibility – Operational Requirements
In-House Production
Gardenia produces bagasse bread clips themselves Outsourced Production
Production of bread clips by 3rd party suppliers
Factory A section of the factory is required to produce bagasse, and area must be allocated for processing of raw bagasse to final bread clip products. It is an add on element, and it is simply an extension on the current plyboard process.
Supply of raw material Imported from Global Exim & Domestic Trading Corporation Imported from respective existing suppliers
Machinery High fixed cost, but spread over a large number of bread clips produced.
Import costs Relatively low-cost, except for cumbersome import procedures and duty imposed on bread clip products. (Government, 2016)
NOVELTY
Revolutionary
History of Bread Clips
Bread clips were invented by Floyd G. Paxton in the year 1952. He crafted the first ever Kwik Lok from a piece of plastic during his return trip on the plane and has been used to bag loaves of bread ever since. This means that plastic bread clips have been used for over 60 years till date, in supermarkets or convenience stores, all brands of bread are being packaged and sealed with a plastic bread clip. Imagine the amount of plastic accumulated since then.
Some bread brands, such as Arnold bread, have experimented on the use of twist ties to package their bread in 2013. The main idea behind this change was to make it more “cost-effective” for Arnold (Lukas, 2013). Aside from this implementation of twist ties, no other bread company has managed to break out from the use of plastic bread clips.
In conclusion, no one has explored an alternative material for bread clips. As such, the introduction of Bagasse as a material to substitute plastic in the production of bread clips, would undoubtedly raise awareness and bring about a potential revolution in the bread industry that will definitely be novel and unheard of.
Bagasse as a Material
Bagasse has been used to produce products such as trays, food containers, and even utensils (BioGreenChoice, 2016). As a material, itself, Bagasse is environmentally-friendly from the stage of production to waste (Balaji, Karthikeyen, & Raj, 2015). Upon degradation, Bagasse provides natural ingredients back into the environment. This demonstrates the capability of Bagasse to be a perfect alternative to plastic products, which takes thousands of years to degrade (BioGreenChoice, 2016).
However, one area that Bagasse has yet to explore is in closure of food packaging such as bottle caps or container lids. Therefore, implementing Bagasse in the bread clips, a form of food packaging closure is definitely new and novel. Furthermore, it could potentially spark a revolution in the plastic food packaging closure products and contribute to the alleviation of global plastic waste.
Unique CSR Initiative
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. Companies incorporate CSR into their business to give back and make a positive impact on the environment, as well as their stakeholders. These CSR initiatives benefits companies, as they lead to increase in efficiency, strengthening of market value, as well as improving competitiveness (Calace, 2013). Ultimately, it allows for the business to create positive brand awareness, and has the potential to increase long-term profits.
Currently, bread companies have incorporated CSR initiatives within their business. Sunshine Bakery has incorporated CSR by collaborating with Health Promotion Board, in raising awareness on a healthy lifestyle and diet. These initiatives aim to promote Sunshine Bread as the healthier choice for consumers (Sunshine Bakeries, 2016).
Similarly, Gardenia has also implemented various CSR initiatives. As part of Gardenia’s “Daily Bread” program to curb hunger and malnutrition, they provide over 10,000 loaves of bread weekly to less-privileged families in Philippines (Gardenia, 2016). Gardenia has also helped communities in need through disaster relief. In December 2014, Gardenia contributed to the emergency relief to the north-east coast of Malaysia, which was hit by one of the worst floods in decades (QAF Limited, 2015). They provided aid by delivering truckload of free fresh bakery products to victims of the floods. In addition, Gardenia also aided Philippines in the alleviation of the natural disasters such as floods, typhoons, and forest fires (QAF Limited, 2015). In terms of environment, Gardenia has stepped up their measures in a bid to reduce their carbon footprint. This is done by optimising their operations, mitigating any possible pollution incidents which could happen.
Comparing both companies, there is one issue that they did not address in their CSR initiatives. Sunshine and Gardenia both focus on helping resolve external issues. As such, they did not address a problem that they have created, which is the issue of plastic waste from plastic bread clips and plastic packaging for their loaves. Therefore, for Gardenia to tackle the self-caused issue of plastic bread clips, it would bring about a greater form of credibility as part of their CSR initiatives. Consumers and stakeholders would thus be able to view Gardenia as a reputable and responsible company that makes a genuine effort to reduce their impact on the environment. This will thus lead to a differentiation over their competitors, and gaining a better image in the bread industry.
EXPECTED OUTCOME
Reduced Pollution
Lesser need for landfill space
The very first impact that the bagasse bread clip would have is reducing the space taken up by bread clips in landfills, due to the time that it takes to biodegrade. By changing the material of bread clips from plastic to bagasse, biodegradation time is greatly reduced from a minimum of 20 years to an average of 2 months. This frees up so much space on the landfill, 120,000 square metres and 580,000 kilograms to be exact, considering 300 million bread clips are used by the entire bread industry annually (Annex A) and each one of it is approximately 2cm in length and breadth (Annex C).
Reduction in greenhouse gases emission
Bagasse bread clips emit lesser carbon dioxide than plastic ones, releasing 5.62 pounds of carbon dioxide in every pound of bagasse produced as compared to 6 pounds of carbon dioxide in every pound of plastic produced (CALCULATING YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT, n.d.). This is due to the fact that bagasse is a natural material while plastic is not. With bagasse bread clips, greenhouse gases emission will definitely be lowered, and global warming can be slowed down partially.
Marine pollution
Marine pollution happens when something chemically or biologically harmful enters the oceans. With plastic bread clips, biodegradation time frames stretch as long as 1,000 years (Cho, 2012). Bagasse bread clips degrade much faster when exposed to water and breaks down into its natural sugarcane pulp form. Therefore, it poses little or no threat to marine life as it is entirely natural and incapable of cutting stomachs. Henceforth, bagasse bread clips greatly aid the reduction in marine pollution, potentially saving millions of marine life forms, an example being the approximate 1 million sea birds that die per year due to consumption of plastics (Ocean Crusaders, 2015).
Industry Adoption
The market leader of the bread industry is Gardenia, holding an approximate 30% of the entire market share in the packaged bread industry (Passport, 2015). Its production capabilities are approximately 10,000 loaves of bread per hour (Gardenia, 2016), and through a linear estimation we can estimate the total number of loaves of bread produced by Gardenia in a year to be approximately 87 million loaves of bread. That is 87 million bread clips (Annex B) possibly being thrown into the landfills, left to rot for decades, or ending up in the seas and harming marine life, and us humans indirectly. With the adoption of bagasse bread clips by Gardenia, we would all benefit from it environmentally. The eventual goal of this recommendation is for remaining industry players to buy in with this project as it will open up a greater landscape, and the effects will be further compounded. With our estimations, if the entire bread industry adopts the bagasse bread clips as a substitute to plastic bread clips, we expect to reduce the need for plastic bread clips by 300 million pieces per year (Annex A). That will mean a significant cut down on carbon dioxide emissions, more landfill spaces freed up, and millions of marine life forms saved.
Awareness of Natural Substitutes
We also seek to raise the awareness that there are many other existing types of natural materials that could be used to substitute plastic items. We want bagasse bread clips to be the inspiration of a natural material revolution where food packaging industries start incorporating natural material. Bagasse bread clips are not only expected to bring about real positive environment impact, but also societal impact in raising the awareness of the public to do things differently. Much as plastics is very convenient for us, this convenience comes to us at a price, the future of our children and our planet. It is simply kicking the can down the road if we think that the problem of plastics will solve itself, and this price will be paid for by the future generations. Hence it is vital that we take initiatives to prepare for and negate this horrible future.
We do acknowledge that the bagasse bread clip, as innovative and helpful to the environment as it is, is still a small plastic, and so the inclination to think that since it’s a small item it will bring about little impact. What we wish to emphasize is that our project is a small movement but a movement in the right direction, the direction of solving the problem of plastics, nonetheless.
Ultimately, biodegradable items still require some time before it can be completely disintegrated and removed from our plant. Henceforth, looking into the future, a greater usage of natural materials in substitute of plastics will bring about positive environmental impact, and also in the process cut away at the insurmountable problem of plastics. It might take some time, but it is more important that progress is achieved in this issue that affects the entirety of humanity.
IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES
Cost
A key challenge in the implementation of bagasse bread clips would be cost. Bagasse bread clips will cost an estimated $0.008 USD more than plastic bread clips. See Figure 7
Figure 7
Bagasse Bread Clips Plastic Bread Clips
Cost
$0.022 (see Table 2, Economic Feasibility)
$0.006 USD (Alibaba, 2016)
Factors • Larger Factory Overhead Costs
• Material Conversion Costs
• Shipping Costs • Mass Production (able to store)
• Minimal Production costs
• Economies of Scale
• Shipping in Bulk
The cost of manufacturing plastic is extremely cost efficient due to the chemical nature of production and the availability of polypropylene; the raw material of which plastic by-products are made from. The global availability of plastic also means that economies of scales and competitive pricing drive prices down, making it both affordable and readily available.
Bagasse, on the other hand requires more overheads in its production. Since it is derived from natural sugarcane, an additional step of material conversion is required in the production of Bagasse bread clips to extract and refine pulp into bagasse. These additional costs (higher labour costs, machinery costs, maintenance costs) come mainly from harvesting, storing and transporting sugarcane and bagasse (Rural Industries R&D Corporation, 2013). Additionally, the availability of crop is a key factor to the supply of bagasse. Prices are subject to increase whenever there is a crop shortage due to seasonal or harvesting issues.
It must be acknowledged that, bagasse as an alternative material will never be more cost efficient than plastic. However, two factors seek to redress this issue of cost. Firstly, bagasse derives value in CSR that brings economic benefit to the organization. Any CSR initiative will cost an organization and taking into account the CSR value that bagasse contributes, the savings on a CSR initiative can be taken as economic benefits. Secondly, economies of scale can be achieved. Bagasse has an “extraordinary capacity for growth” (Food & Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, 2015). With increased demand for energy conversion over the last few years, this increase demand will drive the supply of bagasse up with more sugarcane farms and bagasse suppliers. This will in turn derive economies of scale which could possibly drive prices down.
Operational
The production of Bagasse may prove to be an operational challenge. There are two factors to consider in meeting the operational requirements of a bread company such as Gardenia and they are sufficiency of output and functionality of end-product.
Sufficiency of Output
Bread production demands an extremely high output at an average of 10,000 loaves per hour. This is due to the short shelf life of bread and the vast amount of product offerings of Gardenia. What this means for packaging such as bread clips is that they have to meet the output of bread production at a required 10,000 clips per hour. A large wholesale supplier such as Bio Green Choice with a production output of US$ 2 million is expected to be able to meet this output. A potential concern is that Bagasse, being a natural material, has a much shorter shelf life as the composting process would begin degrading the durability of the clip. This would mean that Bagasse bread clips cannot be shipped in bulk and would have to be imported every few months, putting bread companies such as Gardenia at the mercy of shipping delays and possible lost cargo.
Functionality of End-Product
Operationally, Bagasse bread clips must be able to serve the same purposes as their plastic counterparts. As mentioned earlier, current plastic clips are able to be printed on (expiry date) and colour coded for informational purposes and hence bagasse bread clips must also be able to serve these functions. Printing of expiry dates should not be an issue since it has similar absorbency properties to paper products and ink can be incorporated into the material however it remains to be seen if the ink may fade due to moisture absorbing when placed in moisture filled conditions such as the freezer. Colour coding on the other hand, may prove to be tricky even though it was mentioned earlier in the production process that dye can be applied to the bagasse boards because of its high absorbency properties, bright coloured dye may not colour bagasse to the same effect as brightly coloured plastic clips and this must be taken into account for companies that require a distinctive colour coding system to sort their loaves of bread.
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