Companies Team Up on Project to Produce Biodegradable Plastic from Waste Cooking Oil 3 FACTS AND ANALYSIS

Malaysia’s publicly-owned government company Sirim Berhad, Japanese packaging producer Fujimori known as Zacros, and the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) are working together on project to produce polyhydroxy alkanoates (PHA) from waste vegetable cooking oil, reported the Oils & Fats International on August 07. 
  
As part of the project, the companies had completed construction of a pilot plant for biomass-derived and marine biodegradable resins, Zacros said last month.  Located at Sirim’s facility, the plant would process agricultural wastes and residues as raw materials and the fermentation, extraction, and refining processes would incorporate the natural eco-system of micro-organisms and insects, the company said.
       
The project is underpinned by study by USM researchers and complemented by a team of experts in bioprocessing from Sirim, enabling the scaling up of the bioplastics production process.  The bioplastics produced would be used in the production of single-use plastic products, such as cutlery and food packaging, in Southeast Asian countries.