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El estudio de los plásticos compostables y biodegradables parece ser muy reciente, sin embargo, el celofán ha sido comercializado desde el 1912. Se trata de un bioplástico biobasado que se descompone gradualmente cuando se expone a la intemperie o se entierra en el suelo. El tiempo en el que tarda en biodegradarse varía en función de las condiciones ambientales. Sin embargo, su descomposición es rápida y puede convertirse en abono.

El invento del celofán surge cuando Jacques E. Brandenberger se encontraba en un restaurante, donde un cliente había derramado vino. Cuando el mesero sustituía el mantel, Jaques tuvo la idea de desarrollar un material que repeliera el líquido en lugar de absorberlo.

El celofán es un polímero biodegradable y químicamente inerte que proviene de la celulosa regenerada fabricada a partir de pulpa de madera. El celofán puede fabricarse a partir de cultivos como el cáñamo, que son capaces de crecer en tierras que no son utilizadas para la producción de alimentos.

Es un material fuerte, flexible y transparente. Así mismo, tiene una conductividad térmica baja, excelentes propiedades dieléctricas, no se encoge ni se derrite con el calor y es higroscópico. Además, es no tóxico, ni inflamable y es resistente a aceites, grasas, ácidos, bases y disolventes orgánicos.

Puede ser laminado por extrusión a películas de plástico y laminarse con adhesivo a materiales como el papel, la lámina y el vidrio.  Actualmente, se utiliza para envolver regalos, flores, alimentos, elaboración de cintas adhesivas, membranas semipermeables, recubrimientos, entre otros. A pesar de ser tan amplio su uso en la vida cotidiana, nos sorprende saber que ya hay plásticos biodegradables disponibles y que han formado parte de nuestra vida. Esto es un ejemplo de como los bioplásticos han sido usados por años, sin causar ningún daño al ambiente.

By: Andrea Zambrano

Fotografía: @nazlimozaffari / unsplash.com

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic organic mixture used for manufacture phenolic resins, polyacrylate and polyesters, but mainly for the production of epoxy resins and polycarbonate.

The greatest production of BPA has been registered in China, India, Russia and Mexico, mainly due to its high demand of products made with epoxy resins and polycarbonate. The first ones are widely used as protection coatings in the construction and some food and drinks containers, just like, adhesives. On another note, the polycarbonate are used to make water bottles, toys, baby bottles and products with medical applications, thanks to their resistance and hardness, even though each time are less used in products that are in contact with food.

But… Why does BPA have been associated with harmful effects?

BPA has been classified like an endocrine disruptor that is capable of altering the hormonal concentrations and your metabolism. Among the impacts it has had on humans are: cardiovascular problems, problems in the developing of mammary glands, low sperm production, fetal growth restriction, anxiety, depression, polycystic ovary syndrome, obesity, dermatitis and cancer (breast and prostate).

In recent years, government investigations and the FDA have realized studies to clarify if the use of BPA is really recommended in materials that are in contact with food. The results had indicated that BPA is safe in very low doses that are used and/or consumed. So, what happen to the BPA that is ingested?  It is absorbed by the intestinal wall and is converted to substances with no biological activity that is eliminated within 24 hours.

At Penka® one of our main objectives is to keep our clients and consumers well informed while we always seek the greatest well-being in their health. All of our products are fabricated from a bio-based bioplastic composite of agave fibers in a polymeric matrix and they are completely free of BPA, since none of the elements that make up our products contain it.

We invite you to discover our complete product catalog.

By: Andrea Zambrano

Thru many decades, it was assumed that the only responsibility of the companies was solely to generate profits, regardless of the social and environmental impact associated with their activities. Nowadays, this is changing, as the company must take into account that its activities have both a positive and a negative effect on society.

Corporate Social Responsibility (RSE) is defined as the ongoing commitment of businesses to behave ethically and contribute to economic development, improving the quality of life of workers and their families, as well as the local community and society. In short, it is the responsibility of companies for their impacts on society.

For it, the companies seek the preservation of the environment and the sustainability of future generations, with a vision that integrates respect for people, ethical values, the community and the environment. For this reason, Socially Responsible Enterprises (SREs) have an added value and a competitive advantage.

Penka Penka® the ESR distinction of Socially Responsible Company by CEMEFI and AliaRSE for the second consecutive year. This was granted mainly for their work done as a company in good for the environment and the society.

How to recognize an SRE?

They must have the SRE Distinctive issued by CEMEFI and their actions include:

  1. Contributes to the welfare of society.
  2. Performs based on a ethics code.
  3. Identifies the social needs and provides solutions.
  4. Respects the ecological environment in each of its operating process.
  5. Respects human rights.
  6. Makes alliances for the discussion of issues of public interest.
  7. Invests time and resources in the community.
  8. Identifies and helps social causes.
  9. Promotes favorable working conditions for quality of life.
  10. It is involved in investment and social development programs.

We invite all the companies to start actions that help society’s wellness, their ecological environment and social causes because supporting our community is one of the best benefits we could generate.

By: Andrea Zambrano

Synthetic plastics have a vital role in our daily life for diverse applications like in the food, automotive, decorating, textile, and entertainment industries, among others. But, did you know that in 2019 it reached a production of 368 millions of tons? During its manufacture of plastics, carbon emissions are generated and other dangerous gases, not to mention that they take hundreds of years to degrade.

For that reason, great efforts continue to be made to reduce the use of synthetic plastics and promote the use of bio-based polymers. These comprise polymeric materials from renewable sources that can be processed to design synthetic plastic-like products with the desired structural and functional properties for the applications.

For this, the use of materials known as bio-composites is being evaluated, where one of its parts comes from a biological material and the other is commonly a synthetic polymer. biocompuestos, en donde una de sus partes proviene de un material biológico y la otra es comúnmente un polímero sintético.

In recent years, the use of natural fibers has increased in bio-composites for different applications. These can be obtained from different sources, like sub-products or agricultural industry disposals. Among the advantages of the use of natural fibers, it can be found their ecological character, low cost, low energy consumption and density, abundance, they are renewable, sustainable, wide variety, besides they are respectful with the environment. That’s why they can be used in different compounds, reducing costs and improving their properties.

Plant fibers can be obtained from leaves, stems, seeds, fruits, roots, grasses, cereal straw, and wood. Some of the fibers used are bamboo, plantain, coconut, henequen, pineapple, agave, jute, rice, avocado, orange, abaca, sugar cane, and more.

Our Penka products are elaborated with PolyAgave®, which is a bio-based bioplastic composite made of AGAVE FIBER and polypropylene, decreasing the consumption of petro plastics. Our products have various advantages like: circular economy, reduction of CO2 emissions2 to the environment and is a recyclable and reusable material. We invite you to discover our line of products!

By: Andrea Zambrano

The global production of the synthetic plastics of petrochemical origin has increased in the last decades. However, the great increase in its daily life applications has not been accompanied by good management for its disposal or degradation, estimating that plastic represents about 54% of anthropogenic waste in the environment. Therefore, the search for alternatives to this problem has shown great interest in the development of bio-plastics.

The fabrication of bio-plastics has had a significant growth. It is already common to see products made of bio-plastic materials in supermarkets and restaurants. However, there is still confusion between the terms used to describe them. This is because the prefix bio is associated with terms of biodegradability, bio-polymers, compostability, sustainability, renewable resources, among others. bio a términos de biodegradabilidad, biopolímeros, compostabilidad, sostenibilidad, recursos renovables, entre otros.

But, What is a bio-plastic? It is a polymer that has at least one of the next characteristics: 1) it is elaborated with raw materials of biological origin and/or 2) it is biologically degradable. Based on this, bio-plastics can be classified into three groups: 1) Degradable bio-plastics of petrochemical origin, 2) Degradable bio-plastics of biological origin and 3) Non-degradable bio-based bio-plastics.

Another classification that is given to bio-plastics is as biodegradable and compostable. Biodegradable plastics are those that have the ability to be fragmented by microorganisms into small parts until they consume them. On the other hand, Compostable bio-plastics can decompose in months into compost (nutrient-rich soil compost) and do not generate any waste or toxicity to nature.

There is a vast literature on the subject of bio-plastics, not to mention the endless applications in daily life (cutlery, cleaning supplies, office supplies, as part of household appliances, among others). We, as consumers, must review each of these products and know what we are buying. For example, how many times have we not seen people throw their fast food containers or cutlery on the floor, simply because they are "bio-plastics"? Without understanding that not all bio-plastics have the property of being biodegradable or compostable.

Our Penka straws are bio-based and biodegradable being an excellent sustainable alternative to traditional plastic straws. These products offer the same performance and, in addition, they reduce the carbon footprint.

By: Andrea Zambrano

There are currently a few eco-friendly straw options on the market, let's get to know them.

We agree that before the COVID 19 pandemic, the use of straws was a matter of taste, there are those who like to use it, for various reasons (although there are drinks that do well, such as a margarita), or, there are also those who prefer not to use it.

But nowadays it is convenient to use straws, due to the pandemic, and especially in public establishments, such as cafeterias, restaurants, hospitals, events, etc.

For all of the above reasons, it is important that we are aware of the environmentally-friendly options that the straw market has to offer.

First, we can talk about the reusable straws, where we can group stainless steel, glass and bamboo.

As for their advantages, it is clear that at least stainless steel and glass offer cleanliness and elegance, we cannot say the same about bamboo, at least not as much as the two previous ones, since sometimes they release a slight touch of wood, and because of their heterogeneity sometimes you have to sip hard.

The steel ones you can carry them in a case and take them wherever you want, but the glass ones would be a bit risky to carry because of the fragile nature of the glass. Both are made of thermally conductive material, not suitable for hot beverages.

Then there are paper straws, with many more disadvantages than advantages, since paper, due to its high disposability and low recyclability (in the application of straws), is highly polluting, especially due to the volume it generates.

Another major disadvantage is that its performance is far from optimal; it is common for the straw to weaken rapidly while you use it.

The last option we will analyze is bio-plastic straws, whether biodegradable or bio-based.

These are straws that you can currently find in many places, made of different materials, such as agave, starch, wood, etc.

Their advantages are that they are easy to obtain anywhere, lightweight and low-priced.

As for its disadvantages, it is important to mention that the fact that a straw is made with a bio-plastic still has a percentage of common polymer, although the trend of producers is to gradually reduce the use of polymers, the development of new technologies will surely help us to achieve that goal.

Also a fact to take into account is that although a straw is biodegradable, it is not appropriate to dispose of it as any other waste, since in order for the materials to degrade they must be subjected to certain environmental factors such as humidity, temperature, pressure, etc.

By: Eduardo Rivera

Main picture: unsplash.com / SWZLE

We share with you some data related to the biodegradability of PENKA products.

The most important thing is to start from the most elementary, what does it mean for something to be biodegradable?

Biodegradation is the chemical dissolution of the materials by bacteria or other biological means. The term is often used in relation to ecology, waste management, biomedicine and the environment and is now commonly associated with environmentally friendly products that are capable of decomposing back into natural elements.

Organic material can degrade aerobically with oxygen, or anaerobically, without oxygen; and reacts to certain environmental factors, such as sunlight and ambient humidity.

An important fact related to composting (which is not the same as biodegradability) is that in order for a product to migrate to compost, it must be processed in special composting facilities or landfills.

In Penka we manufacture our products with materials that stimulate biodegradation, mainly agave fiber, which is a natural, abundant and sustainable element; besides giving a genuine and pleasant appearance.

Penka biodegradable agave straws are made from a resin base, agave fiber and additives that promote the biodegradation of the resin base. It complies with ASTM 6954, which ensures that the product biodegrades under aerobic conditions (in the presence of oxygen).

Biodegradation starts when the product is in the presence of an adequate temperature and UV radiation.

At the end of the biodegradation process the straw turns into low molecular weight oligomer molecules that can be consumed by microorganisms. The biodegradation waste does not affect the environment.

The degradation time is very relative, just like it is mentioned above, the material reacts to oxygen, temperature and humidity, and the degradation time will depend on these factors.

By: Eduardo Rivera

Image: Volodymyr Hryshchenko / unsplash.com

Day by day the number of establishments around the world is growing concerned about practices that reduce or nullify the impact on the environment.

In the past (let's say back in 2010’s), it was common when going to cafeterias or restaurants for your drink to be served with up to two plastic straws. Also, common to find lots of napkins, or to be served on disposable unicell plates, cutlery, cutlery, and more plastic cutlery.

The result of a meal or a pleasant afternoon of coffee, in addition to a good chat, was a considerable amount of single-use waste; Multiply it by the tables of the place…by restaurants, ¿It's worrying, isn't it?

Fortunately, for the environment and waste management, things have changed.

Reduced use of napkins is now common, and equally important, napkins made from reusable materials. It is common for food to be compacted and served on a single plate, and it is also increasingly common to see food establishments supplying straws and regular plastic cutlery with straws and cutlery made of sustainable materials.

Some of the most commonly sustainability practices used by food business include waste reduction, elimination of common plastic materials, and consuming of local and organic foods

Many establishments aspire to even more, reaching out to the social aspect, to be socially responsible businesses.

In PENKA ® we created a community called #ClubPenka, where we proudly show the good practices of many businesses that have decided to take actions in favor of the environment, including the use of Penka products.

By: Eduardo Rivera

Main Photography: Carolina Marinelli (@carocarom)/unsplash.com

At Penka we design, develop and make straws, cutlery and many other products made with PolyAgave natural fiber resins; but what is PolyAgave?

PolyAgave is a material developed and patented by BioSolutions; a Mexican company founded in 2010; which was developed with the intention of creating a bio-based bioplastic material that would be a sustainable alternative to traditional plastics and would work for different applications, such as injection molding, extrusion, and blow molding.

There are several grades and types of PolyAgave and they are used according to the application in which they will be used, for example: plates, cups, cutlery, household items, cleaning items, lids, decorative items and coolers, among others. National and international customers currently use it.

The benefits of using PolyAgave for these applications are both for the environment and for the market and companies that use it.

Among the benefits to the environment, we can list the reduction of carbon footprint and water footprint -since agaves do not require irrigation water, only rainwater to grow-, as well as the use of an abundant agro-industrial waste, instead of use foods from which the starch is extracted.

The benefits for the market are also important, since the appearance of the products made with PolyAgave is very genuine, it is clear and remarkable that these products contain a load of agave, you can be sure that a product made with PolyAgave is a product that contains a vegetable load. It is also an innovative product that will help differentiate your packaging and products from the competition.

Finally, it is important to note that PolyAgave is a bioplastic that can be used in current machinery in the plastics industry, it can be pigmented in any color and can be recycled at the end of its use. Most importantly, it is the first bioplastic developed and manufactured in Mexico from agro-industrial by-products, a source of pride for the nation.

Eduardo Rivera

The story of the straws goes back more than 6000 years, but, what else we can know about the origin and use?

Historically, the oldest recorded straws date back to the Middle East; there are records of the Sumerians, using plant stems. There are also records of Egyptians drinking beer with a straw to avoid drinking the impurities in the container.

The evolution of the straw has been drastic throughout history, they began as tools for hunting, health, and medicine, and were made with stems, bones, and wood; later they migrated to some metals for their elaboration, such as gold used by members of some royalty, the South American bulb for drinking Mate.

Traditional bulb for drinking Mate.

In more recent times, cheaper or easier to work materials began to be used, such as paper, cardboard, and flexible plastic.

The current plastic straw, as we know it, has its origin in the United States as well as its variants, such as shaker straws, flexible straws, etc.

Straws are offered as a sanitary alternative to reduce the risk of having direct contact with containers such as cups, glasses, bottles that have not been properly washed, a high-value option in restaurants. It is also highly useful for the elderly and people with health problems who may have complications sipping directly from a container.

They are also useful for children since they help them not to get too dirty with liquids.

By: Eduardo Rivera

Photography: unsplash.com

Have you heard recently or since a few years ago about products made from waste? Have you heard of clothing made from recycled fibers? or products made from sustainable materials considered waste? well, this trend has a name and a last name, it's called Circular Economy

The Circular Economy is a global movement that pretends the reduction of materials of new elaboration, replacing them with reuse materials, recyclables and/or sustainable sources. The pioneer countries in this trend were Japan and Germany, based on 3R (reduce, recycle, reuse) waste management; it is a practice widely practiced in developed countries and by global brands.

Examples abound, for example a few years ago the Manchester United club was one of the pioneers in using recycled materials in their uniforms, it was the spearhead for many more teams to turn to see the benefits of this practice. Similarly, in the clothing industry in general, it is common to see shoes with soles made from recycled rubber or plastic, or from waste from the sea, as well as clothing made from recycled fibers.

Another example of a company that is conscious of its impact on the environment is José Cuervo® (whose distillery is the oldest in Latin America). Its actions related to the Circular Economy is the use of its by-product from the production of Tequila (which is called agave bagasse) to use it in a wide range of products and materials, such as composting material, paper and currently agave straws. It is the best way to "circularize" an agave fiber from the field, process it and have it end up in your drink.

In Penka® we strive every day to work and be part of this large group of companies and businesses that have responsibility with the environment; Our efforts are focused on being able to offer a greater number of products made with agave bagasse and evolve to new formulations in order to be part of the solution to environmental problems that seriously afflict our planet.

By: Eduardo Rivera

Nowadays, human beings are more aware and value companies and products that are socially responsible with our planet.

According to Nielsen, 46% of global respondents say they are willing to sacrifice brand to buy environmentally friendly products, and the vast majority (73%) say they would definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment”1.

Thanks to this, every day there are more companies that invest in offering environmentally friendly products and are concerned about informing their consumers.

There are different recognitions that differentiate/distinguish companies from the rest, which are highly valued. An example in Mexico is the ESR® (Socially Responsible Enterprise) Distinctive®, which accredits the company to its stakeholders, who voluntarily and publicly assume the commitment to implement and continuously improve socially responsible management, as part of their culture and business strategy.

 Companies that earn this Distinction provide confidence and demonstrate their commitment to their customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders.

At Penka®® we made the decision to differentiate our products from possible piracy or bad practices by including the PNK® Distinctive®, which endorses all our certifications and guarantees that it is a patented, original, bio-based, biodegradable product, partially manufactured with agave fiber.

How can you identify the PNK® Distinctive? PNK®?

The PNK® Distinctive® is a diamond figure, with the image of an agave in the center and the letters PNK. We have created this badge so that all our customers feel the peace of mind that Penka stands behind the quality of the product to its customers and that they are part of the #ClubPenka.

It is very common that when an innovative and differentiated product is created, at the same time there are companies that want to copy that product through "pirated copies" or of poor quality, which in many cases do not even have agave fiber in their composition.

It is very important to Penka® to protect our customers with our original, patented, and high-quality agave products. 

Every day more and more companies join our Penka® community, consuming our patented products, which include the PNK® Distinctive.®.

By: Ernesto J. Amescua

Sources:

  1. Nielsen, “Los Compradores Sostenibles Compran el cambio que quieren ver en el Mundo” , FMCG & RETAIL 30-01-2019
Made from agave bagasse
100% recyclable

Food-Grade, BPA free

Designed in Mexico and Manufactured in the United States

Reduce CO2 emissions

Reduces oil consumption

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