The Taiwanese government holds the "circular economy," "purifying air," "improving water quality," and "caring for the earth" as core parts of its administration, integrating them through recycling and reusing, hoping to achieve the goal of sustainability and zero-waste. Under its governance, Taiwanese companies have also rapidly developed products that exceed the current global environmental standards.
Taiwan has a strong concern on how humans treat the environment, which explains why it continues to champion the design and development of eco-friendly products that will not harm the earth.
Currently, statistics show that the world uses around 370 billion disposable plastic straws each year. Disposable plastic waste is perhaps one of the most serious forms of global pollution, and that is why more and more consumers are concerned about whether the products they buy are environment friendly and whether they have also become complicit in destroying the environment when they buy certain products made out of plastic. The use of natural, non-toxic chemicals, biodegradable and recycled materials has become a big trend in daily household products as well.
Also, the Kantar Consumer Index report (“Who Cares, Who Does”) revealed that more than half of consumers are concerned about sustainability or have begun to actively reduce waste in various ways. The Purpose in Asia report also shows that 75% of consumers believe that corporate social responsibility will affect their willingness to buy. The trend that was once called "eco-friendly" has gradually transformed into an "eco-friendly lifestyle."
Recycling and reprocessing materials: Creating new business opportunities by bringing waste back to life
Recently, Taiwan held the "Taiwan Excellence Eco-friendly Lifestyle Virtual Press Conference”that was organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). They invited four award-winning Taiwan Excellence brands: Taiwan Lung Meng Advanced Composite Materials, Ju-Tian Cleantech Co., Ltd., Jiun Yo Co., Ltd, and Kai Suh Suh Enterprise Co., Ltd., to present eco-friendly products they have developed in recent years as well as their concepts and plans for future developments.
Established in 1969, Kai Suh Suh (KSS) is the world's third-largest multinational company specializing in manufacturing wiring equipment. Its products are sold in 126 countries and it has more than 40,000 clients, putting it in a leading position globally.
With the research and development goal of "environmental protection, plastic reduction, and functional upgrading," KSS breaks through the existing "hook-and-loop fasteners" used in zip ties and innovatively combines zip ties and hooks that can rotate 360 degrees, surpassing the structure and applications of traditional zip ties. With an additional retractable head structure, it can be reused, creating more flexible applications. It uses UL qualified materials, does not contain heavy metals and plasticizers, and meets FDA food standards, making it completely safe for human use.
The founder of Jiun Yo, Managing Director Mao-Hsiung Chen, has been manufacturing paper containers for 22 years and has developed stable and high-quality products using natural and eco-friendly materials. Its "100% biodegradable paper containers" have received biodegradable certifications from the US BPI (Bank Policy Institute) and the EU's DIN CERTCO, the certification body for the issuance of DIN marks from the DIN or German Institute for Standardization.
Starting from the supervision of materials, the reduction of carbon emissions in the product manufacturing process to the development of 100% eco-friendly PLA biodegradable paper coating technology, no other petroleum bases and polymers are added. Once the corn starch naturally decomposes, the product is environmentally friendly and without added plasticizer; it retains the original color of food-grade paper, without any chemical pollution and avoids artificial bleaching, combined with the use of eco-friendly water-based printing inks and Flexo ink printing technology.
Ju-Tian set out from the concept of the circular economy and agricultural waste utilization. Since 2007, founder Chien-Chung Huang has been committed to researching environment-friendly and biodegradable materials, while keeping top of mind the concept of sustainable use of resources and assisting enterprises in achieving zero industrial waste.
To realize a reduced plastics lifestyle, in 2017, Ju-Tian launched the first "bagasse straw" made from renewable materials as the starting point of reusing agricultural waste and continued to develop a number of renewable plant waste fibers. Coffee grounds, bamboo powder, tea dregs, rice hulls, and even grape pomace from making wine are repurposed into straws and returned to people's daily lives. Experiments have confirmed that in specific environments, "sugar cane straws" can decompose by more than 90% within half a year and have obtained Taiwan's Green Mark.
Since 1990, Lung Meng has invested a lot of time, effort and resources in its environmental goals and has experienced countless setbacks. However, after more than ten years, it successfully developed the technology to produce "Lung Meng Eco-friendly Paper Composite Materials," which has similar functions to wood pulp paper, using a large amount of inorganic mineral powder (stone powder) and a small amount of resin. It has already obtained invention patents in more than 40 countries worldwide.
During the manufacturing process of traditional paper made from wood pulp, not only do large amounts of trees need to be cut, but the wastewater from pulp washing also causes serious ocean pollution. The biggest feature of stone paper is that the manufacturing process does not require cutting down trees or bleaching. It uses only trace amounts of water and does not involve strong acids and bases or the emission of exhaust gas. Due to the environment-friendly and harmless manufacturing process, as well as the product being waterproof, anti-freeze, tear-resistant, soft, and difficult to break or be damaged by insects, Lung Meng's paper-making technology can be widely used in printing, food packaging, and many other useful products in our daily life.
Taiwan Excellence is an award established by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 1993. Every year, through a rigorous selection process based on the four major professional criteria of "R&D," "design," "quality," and "marketing," while also factoring in being "made in Taiwan," it carefully selects products with "innovative value." Taiwan Excellence believes that people do not pursue innovation for the products themselves, but the solutions that the products provide. Therefore, Taiwan Excellence uses wisdom and creativity to make sure that the best products in Taiwan can enter everyone's life and be ever-present. To learn more about Taiwan's most outstanding products, please visit the official website of Taiwan Excellence: https://www.taiwanexcellence.org/en.
