Roots Biopack Limited's factory in Guangdong is doing all it can to meet the demand. Set up in 1995, the Hong Kong-based producer of biodegradable food containers and packaging products sees a 50 percent growth in 2006. In many ways this company resembles any fast growing start-up finally seeing success coming its way.

But Roots Biopack Limited Director King Cheng would rather talk about the company's message, not its financial achievements. And true to his commitment, Cheng tries to divert questions from Roots' business side during his interview with China Daily. "We didn't start out by looking for profitable products, but solutions," he says. "We don't want to promote our business. We want to promote the concept."

Instead of profit, the focal point for Cheng is what he calls a new direction for Hong Kong, or more precisely "a new environmental economy for Hong Kong". Roots made great strides as a model for this new economy last year, when it received several awards for product quality, brand building, social responsibility and its environmentally friendly products: Hong Kong Q-Mark Product Award Scheme, the Hong Kong Superbrands Council's Superbrand Award, Hong Kong Eco-Products Bronze Award 2005 and the HSBC SME Living Business Ruby Award 2005.

Looking to replace Styrofoam and plastic containers with its biodegradable ware, Roots has truly allowed its message to pervade its business, and as its business expands it hopes the environmental concern will too.

Waste to treasure

The charm of Roots products is that they are 100 percent biodegradable. Made up of 96 percent natural fibre, 2.3 percent water and 1.7 percent biodegradable materials, the company's food trays and packaging products don't sit in landfills for decades like plastic or Styrofoam but decompose at ambient temperature in compost heaps or garbage dumps. What's more is that they don't release toxic gases or fluids when they break down. Rather, this mix is better than the average garbage because instead of hurting the land, it will nourish it.

Six months after being dumped into landfills, they will turn into carbohydrates, O2, H2O, CO2, and then disappear, Cheng says. "The byproduct itself, the carbohydrates, is like fertilizer that is good for the land." And all this from an agricultural byproduct, the dredges of sugar canes - a fact that Roots is very proud of because the company is taking something no one wanted and turning it into high value products for export.

"We turned waste into treasure." Although the company had many options - any agricultural waste with fibre - it chose sugar cane for a variety of reasons. The fibre is easy to use, and sugar cane is widely available in south China, where Roots' plant is based. This gives it easy access to its main raw material, cutting procurement costs.

As more mainlanders consume sugar, more and more sugar cane is grown to serve their needs, instead of just for Roots' manufacturing unit - another reduction of waste. Also, sugar cane grows readily, maturing in three to six months, says Cheng. So unlike trees used to make paper, for example, replenishing this natural resource won't take years.

Cost to the environment

The question of price is often attached to alternative products. After all, convincing people to pay a premium isn't an easy job. When it comes to the prices of Roots' food trays and packaging products, Cheng is inclined to speak obliquely, falling back on his message angle.

"When you talk about price, we don't talk about the manufacturing price. And as civilized consumers, as socially conscious manufacturers, we should consider the price to the environment first, before market competition... We are using sugar cane to produce daily tools. But then all these practical products by the end of the day will not harm the world, harm the earth."

Roots has grounds to get its products out at a reasonable price by continuously improving its production skills, technology and raw material purchase over the past 10 years, coupled with increased market share and production efficiency.

Now, it is at a point when, in some cases, depending on who its customer or distributor is, it can charge a higher price than Styrofoam/plastic, and in other cases, lower. "So it's not our production price right now, because our costs have lowered, because we're purchasing for mass production."

Cheng says the fact that petroleum prices have gone up 30 to 50 percent in past few years has helped the company's competitiveness. With petroleum becoming more and more expensive and exhaustible, he feels an increasing number of economies will seek to switch to alternative products to reduce the use of petroleum.

A big market

If reaching its products is reaching its message, then in the trillion-dollar business of food and product packaging, Roots has plenty to say. "Market is so big, anything, anywhere" is possible.

Most of Roots' existing clients are in Europe, though its products are also marketed in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Hong Kong. Forty percent of the company's production are (fast) food trays and containers, another 40 percent are supermarket trays for fruits and meat and the rest, industrial packaging.

Since its products are light and their hygiene is ensured, Roots could make hospital supplies, such as medical trays, too. That will help reduce the need for cleaning trays and lower the use of detergents.

Roots is in talks with a major Japanese electronics company on packaging for MP3 players. A European airline is interested in meal trays. And a Japanese footwear company has already placed orders for shoe inserts.

Roots can accommodate any challenge, Cheng says, as it looks to help companies export less waste materials with their products.

Wider support in HK

Though it hopes to spread its concern for the environment across the world, it realizes that Hong Kong residents too would like to see more and more of its products being accepted in the territory.

Cheng says Hong Kong companies are coming along slowly, with most being attracted to the public relation value of using environmentally friendly packaging. "They may not come to us for total replacement, but (the good thing is) they want to try it out."

The government has helped by fast-tracking Roots as an approved biodegradable container maker. Roots' biodegradable moon cake trays were mentioned in the government's waste management plan released last December.

Cheng says the government could eventually pass laws to replace plastic and Styrofoam food containers and trays. "The Hong Kong government wants to promote this, but it is cautious."

But some help is on the way. The 2006-07 budget report says an eco-responsibility bill will be tabled in the Legislative Council later this year, presaging programs that will levy charges on certain products for which more recycling or waste reduction is needed. This is good news for Roots, for it looks to spread the use of its products in Hong Kong.

"The legislation is underway in Hong Kong. The first thing is that the government wants to introduce producer responsibility. So it will tax you first. That will be good for us, as market competition, price competition."

(China Daily HK Edition March 3, 2006)