FamilyMart spoons made from KANEKA Biodegradable Polymer Green Planet™ expand its rollout area

Kaneka Corporation
March 16, 2022
In time for the Act on Promotion of Resource Circulation for Plastics going into effect in April of this year, Kaneka Corporation (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Minoru Tanaka) has announced that spoons made from KANEKA Biodegradable Polymer Green Planet™ ( referred to below as Green Planet) were decided by FamilyMart Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Kensuke Hosomi) to expand its rollout area to about 7,300 FamilyMart stores in Kanto and Tohoku area. Stores in the designated area can choose Green Plant spoons for their customers.

Green Planet is a 100% plant-derived biodegradable polymer developed by Kaneka. It offers the same functions as ordinary plastic, making it an innovative solution to the problems of environmental harm caused by single use plastics. With its excellent biodegradability in a wide range of environments, Green Planet has been certified as biodegradable in seawater by “OK Biodegradable MARINE” *.

In succession to the rollout of straws made from Green Planet in April 2021, spoons made from Green Planet were selected by FamilyMart in June 2021 for the first time in Japan and firstly applied in Tohoku area (excluding Fukushima) and 1,100 selected stores in Kanto area. FamilyMart who evaluated Green Planet as environmentally friendly biopolymer and they decided to expand its rollout area. In the future, Kaneka and FamilyMart will collaborate for further expansion to stores nationwide.

Kaneka has recently decided to significantly increase its production capacity for Green Planet to meet the rapid rise in demand from environmentally conscious brand holders. Led by its mission of "KANEKA thinks 'Wellness First’.", Kaneka will continue to strive to create sustainable, recycling-oriented societies and solve the problem of plastic pollution through the active use of Green Planet.

*Biodegrades at least 90% in seawater (30℃) within 6 months. The "OK Biodegradable MARINE" certificate was issued to Green Planet™（formerly called PHBH™）in September 2017 by Vincotte, an international certifying body headquartered in Belgium. TÜV AUSTRIA Belgium NV took over the certification work from Vincotte in December 2017. 

Spoons made from Green Planet™
<About KANEKA Biodegradable Polymer Green Planet™> 
https://www.kaneka.co.jp/en/solutions/phbh/index.html