The Bagasse Pioneers

This project aims to reduce the detrimental effects of plastic on the environment through the use of bagasse, an eco-friendly material that remains after crushing sugarcane.

• The world is facing major environmental problems such as Ozone Depletion, Greenhouse Effect, or Global Warming. Realizing that these problems are directly affecting our lives, our team proposes using bagasse as a replacement for plastic products. Bagasse is the dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane. In Vietnam, bagasse is produced in huge amounts on a daily basis as we consume sugarcane regularly. Moreover, bagasse is a by-product of the sugar industry, therefore easy and cheap to obtain.

• Advantages: 

• Price: Bagasse is now trading at $22 per ton (https://www.swst.org/wp/meetings/AM15/pdfs/presentations/chang.pdf). In comparison, plastic now trading at $76 per ton (https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2021/02/16/prices-for-most-recycled-plastics-continue-to-rise/)

• Being both Biodegradable and Compostable, it's the most environmentally friendly material currently used in the food-service industry. Offering a great alternative to products like Polystyrene Containers,...

• Processes+technologies:

• Bagasse processing technology

• Recycling bagasse with CO2+H2O (biodegradation)

Our team is trying to solve the following problems:

• Plastic products

• The qualities of our ecosystems

• Reduce unemployment rate in Vietnam

• Sugarcane wasting

Real situation"

• As reported by VNExpress, Hanoi ranked the world's seventh most polluted capital city in 2019

• And not only Hanoi is polluted, but citizen across Vietnam is also dealing with permanent health effects caused by pollution

• According to WHO, Air pollution in Vietnam leads people to be exposed to fine particles in polluted air that penetrate deep into our lungs and cardiovascular system, causing diseases such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and respiratory infections.

• In the report of Trading Economics, the Unemployment Rate in Vietnam increased to 3.72 percent in the third quarter of 2021 from 2.62 percent in the second quarter of 2021 which was in the top 100 highest unemployment countries in the world.

• In accord with Science Direct, Environmental impacts of various alternatives for dealing with bagasse waste: landfilling with the utilization of landfill gas, anaerobic digestion with biogas production, incineration for power generation

• Most people in Hanoi and in Vietnam are unwilling to use an alternative to plastic, many still don’t care about the environment. Moreover, due to having a high population density, Vietnam is heavily affected by pollution. 

=> The problem is now a national issue

Our solution mainly serves those who are impacted by pollution, especially plastic pollution. We aim to reduce plastic use in packaging by introducing a cheap and biodegradable alternative material - bagasse. 

This reduces the number of chemicals included in plastic that people are exposed to. Moreover, plastic pollution has a direct and deadly effect on wildlife. The food chain can be affected, causing many diets to be directly affected by plastic pollution. We are working to improve the livelihood of people who are affected by plastic pollution, including but not limited to, people who can’t afford organic food, people who work with plastic on a daily basis,... Most people who are affected by plastic don’t even know the harms of plastic or don’t care enough about plastic. We can introduce bagasse products as a cheap but aesthetically pleasing product, improving the lives of many who are being affected by plastic.

Pilot and get to know the market  - Done!!

Market products to targeted customers
Direct sales to tourists, consumers, families, and friends

One of the team members is the co-founder of Rainbow Straws - a whole rice straw producer from Vietnam. His job is to research the population’s opinions on plastic and plastic alternatives such as grass, stainless steel, or bamboo.

Our team, The Bagasse Pioneers, alongside our partners (Project Cyber-literacy and Rainbow Straws) are surveying Vietnamese people’s likelihood to buy our products. Also, we are working hard to reduce the price of our products so that they will be as cheap as possible. On the other hand, Project Cyber-literacy is doing a great job raising awareness on environmental problems and trying to modify the technologies so that they will be more efficient. Our stage of development is therefore concept because, since the Pandemic, we haven’t got the chance to go out and develop our products in person.

- Bagasse processing: The process to make bagasse includes using a dewatering unit to remove water from the bagasse; a steam boiler; an Automatic Screen Cleaning System to remove the color sand+undesired fibers. The products made will be whitened using chlorine gas and NaOH. Next, an air compressor and a shaping machine. Lastly, a UV Sterilizer, making sure production meets hygiene requirements.

- Recycling bagasse with CO2+H2O (biodegradation): Although now sugarcane bagasse incineration for energy generation and this allows supplying heat and power to the sugar and ethanol process and exporting any excess, we are the one who extended the use of bagasse in which products made by bagasse can still be material for producing energy

There are approximately 8 million people living in families in Hanoi, there are about 2.2 million families in Hanoi. We aim to target the people who currently use plastic on a daily basis for shopping, cooking, packaging, … Our product will serve those who are willing to stop using plastic and switch to bagasse. Our estimation is that next year we will serve at least 1% of the potential population - approx. 80000 people or 22000 families

Our solution aims to improve Vietnameses who are affected by plastic pollution. The world is now facing many environmental problems: Ozone Depletion, Greenhouse Effect, or Global Warming. Many people are exposed to deadly waste produced by plastic factories, yet they don’t even realize it. Many use plastic products every day without knowing that it is very harmful to the environment. Realizing these problems, we proposed a solution: bagasse-based products, in hope that the people’s health will be greatly improved. The community will therefore benefit by being healthy, educated, and more caring for Mother Earth. On the other hand, many people lost their jobs and had to live in poverty. Our solution brings in an opportunity for them to work in our bagasse production factories, which use a safe, eco-friendly approach to the environment with the technologies of processing and recycling bagasse and can be of great help to help them maintain their lives. 

We intend to use 03 indicators, based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

1. No Poverty: Our solution has the intention to make people’s lives financially better. We will first work with a small community, a rural part of Vietnam to measure our progress. We will keep track of the people’s incomes before and after working in our bagasse factories to see if there are significant changes that will make life easier for them. 

2. Good Health and Well-being: A part of Vietnamese people are incautious of the effects of plastics and pollution in general on the environment. This is reflected in the huge number of patients in hospitals with diseases such as heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and respiratory infections. We will work with hospitals in the local area to measure the reducing amount of patients with related diseases.

3. Climate action: Plastic factories produce a large number of harmful chemicals directly into streams, lakes. Our factories, on the contrary, work on a closed procedure that will recycle bagasse and its remaining waste. This can be measured by seeing the pollution slowly disappearing in streams and lakes in the local area.

Covid-19 is not only affecting us but also many others from being able to ship their products. Moreover, many people in Vietnam are wary of alternatives to plastic so we have to make our product even more appealing. Many people don't like the idea of single-use products, so we had to focus on making our products more durable than previous bagasse products.

Now, all the team members are students in gifted school which we all have a good learning background. Moreover, we are members of different club and organization in Hanoi, VietNam:

In specification:

- Khanh is co-founder of rainbowstraws - a whole rice straw provider from Vietnam. In addition, he is a part of a media club in school.

RainbowStraws? (@rainbowstrawsinc) • Instagram photos and videos

The Bagasse Pioneers are currently in partnership with 02 organizations: 

1. Project Cyber-literacy, a Vietnamese charity organization that aims to help Vietnam disadvantaged students to have adequate technological facilities for study and research in the context of globalization and the covid pandemic.

We worked with Project Cyber-literacy to raise awareness of how plastic are ruining our lives through Social Media, Facebook posts in specific.

2. Rainbow straws, a Vietnam company, that provides eco-friendly, biodegradable, and edible whole rice straws. The company aims to fight against the main polluter, plastic straws, and give consumers the chance to experience no-plastic drinking and save our endangered environment. They are the champions of the SAGE Global start-up competition (organized by SAGE Global-an an international nonprofit corporation dedicated to teenage entrepreneurs).

We worked with Rainbow Straws to collect data/statistics on Vietnamese people's opinions on alternatives for plastic products.