Turn chopsticks into biofuel

With a population of 127 million people, Japan loses 90,000 tons of wood every year to produce disposable 'chopsticks'. The Japanese government is planning to convert used chopsticks into biofuels to save money.

As a country with very few natural energy resources, Japan considers biofuels as an alternative source of energy for the environment, alleviating dependence on fuel supplies from abroad and copper. This contributes to limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

(Photo: Worldnewsaustralia) Japanese restaurants and eateries often serve all customers with ' disposable ' chopsticks. Therefore, in order to take advantage of this material for biofuel production, Toyohisa Aoyama, an official of the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said the ministry will install barrels to collect chopsticks'. Used 1 time 'used.

Currently, about 90% of these Japanese chopsticks are imported from China, mainly produced from bamboo and poplar wood.

In early August, a food association in China called for an end to the use of ' disposable ' chopsticks to contribute to the ' green ' Olympics next year. According to the association, every year the country has 45 billion ' disposable ' chopsticks thrown away after use.

The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said it will try to find funding to invest in this project. The ministry also plans to study the utilization of other sources of materials to produce biofuel for cars.

Mr. Aoyama said: 'We will consider the advantages and disadvantages in the process of collecting, processing and processing wood into biofuels'.

Ethanol, the most famous bio-oil today, is made from food-based ingredients such as sugar beets, wheat, corn or sugarcane.

Quang Thinh

According to AFP, World News Australia, VietNamNet