A company in Japan used polylactic acid as a raw material to successfully develop a cold food cup with a fast natural decomposition function, which has opened up a practical new way to solve the problem of degradation of disposable plastic packaging.
The degradable material developed by the company belongs to the polyester polymer. The lactic acid can be extracted from sugar liquid fermented from sugar beet and undergo ring-opening polymerization to form polylactic acid. Polylactic acid and commonly used polystyrene, polypropylene and other packaging materials have similar physical properties, and have good moisture, grease and airtightness. Polylactic acid is stable at room temperature, but it decomposes automatically when the temperature is higher than 55°C or under the influence of oxygen and microorganisms. The decomposition of polylactic acid is divided into two stages: first, pure chemical hydrolysis into lactic acid monomer, and then the lactic acid monomer is decomposed into carbon dioxide and water by the action of microorganisms. The food cup made of polylactic acid can be completely decomposed in 60 days, and it truly achieves both ecological and economical effects.