Green Packaging: These Brazilian Cassava Bags Decompose in a Mere 60 Days

Cassava package by CBPAKBrazil’s CBPAK, with 15 employees, produces 300,000 packages for food each month. But they are not those common polystyrene packages. The CBPAK packages are made out of cassava starch. Ecologically correct, they take just 60 days to decompose and do not pollute the environment.

The idea of packages made out of starch arose in 2001, when engineer Claudio Rocha Bastos heard from a friend that a group was researching the possibility of using cassava as raw material. “I saw that that could become technology,” explained Bastos who, in 2006, concluded the process for development of the packages.

Located in São Carlos, in the interior of São Paulo, CBPAK received its first raw material from large starch producers and now has around 40 clients, especially in the sectors of organic agriculture and events. The company has also closed a deal to supply cups and trays to aerial catering company Lufthansa Service Group, starting in 2010.

Bastos says that the company is currently undergoing a phase of capitalization, and that after this period it should start investing in the foreign market through joint ventures. According to the businessman, the European market has already shown interest in the product.

Also in July this year, the company should receive a new machine to expand production to 3 million items a month. Bastos believes that will be the right moment to start exporting. The company has already sent products for testing in Chile, Uruguay and Argentina.

With the growing production, Bastos still hopes to expand the number of employees at his company to 80, working in three shifts. The forecasted revenues for 2011 are also good, reaching 10 million Brazilian reais (US$ 5.7 million).

The government of Brazil has part of the business. In 2007, CBPAK signed a contract with the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) to help in the consolidation of technology. Today, the BNDESPar, the bank’s investment arm, has 35% of the company’s capital.

Despite the high cost of cassava packages, the ecological appeal is strong and has already called the attention of companies that transform food, as well as the sugar and alcohol and electronic product sectors, as the organization is developing starch products that may replace the polystyrene protectors that come in cardboard boxes.

Service

CBPAK Tecnologia
Telephone: (+55 16) 3368-5935
Site: www.cbpak.com.br
E-mail: cbpak@cbpak.com.br

Anba

Tags:

You May Also Like

Moreno Veloso and Orquestra Imperial Make US Dance the Brazilian Way

The campus of Montclair University became a big open-air “gafieira” (the name given to ...

Brazil: Ary Barroso’s Unknown Album

Researcher Omar Jubran has been working on the Ary Barroso project for about ten ...

TAM’s Jets Back in Brazil from Middle East Will Fly to NY and London

Brazilian Airline TAM will receive by October three aircraft Airbus A330 that had been ...

Brazil: IMF Praises Fallen Palocci and Welcomes Incoming Mantega

Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following ...

Piauí­, in Brazil’s Northeast, Becomes Honey Hub

The northeastern Brazilian state of PiauÀ­ answered to 27.7% of total honey exports from ...

Brazil About to Master Whole Uranium Industrial Cycle Processing

According to Brazilian military sources, Brazil will be ready to control the whole industrial ...

Brazilian Congress Wants Access to Corruption-Linked Adman’s Account in the US

Senator DelcÀ­dio Amaral, from the Workers Party of Mato Grosso do Sul state, president ...

Teacher in Brazil Charged for Defamation for Reporting on Jail Problems

Brazilian Maria da Glória Costa Reis, a human rights activist and retired teacher in Brazil ...

Brazil, a Superpower in Cookie Consumption, Just Behind the US

Brazilian cookie exports totaled US$ 114 million last year, which represented growth of 24.5% ...

For Central Bank Chief, Brazil Is OK and Needs No Change

The president of Brazil’s Central Bank (BC), Henrique Meirelles, declared that in light of ...