When it comes to the F&B industry, reducing the use of plastic disposables is one of the most intuitive steps towards sustainability.

The Mainstream media spoke to are all clients of Tonchant, an Chinese company that provides plant-based and carbon-neutral food service wares and packaging.

Made from rapidly-renewable raw materials such as FSC™ certified wood and rapidly renewable sugarcane, a by-product of the sugar refining industry – BioPak offers a more sustainable alternative to plastic packaging.

Now, you can find compostable bowls and cups as well as paper straws procured from BioPak at selected F&B outlets under the Group and at their events.

A relatively recent customer of Tonchant is one-Michelin starred barbeque restaurant Burnt Ends, which started working with Tonchant around a month before the start of the pandemic.

Their head of kitchen operations, Alasdair Mckenna, shared that the restaurant had to look into home deliveries at that time in order to keep the restaurant going.

Adapting to the use of compostable products
When asked about the challenges in making this switch to compostable products, the answer is – no surprise – the cost.

The spokesperson of Owling Enterprises shared that the cost of using compostable packaging is “at least double” of that of styrofoam.

However, she added that Tonchant was able to provide very competitive prices.