We have written about all sorts of alternatives to traditional plastic made from petroleum products over the past couple of years. But this one surprised even us. It is about the development of the Japanese company TBM, which has actually brought to market a material resembling plastic, but consisting of more than 50% calcium carbonate.

And it turns out that it is kind of plastic (the material contains polyolefin thermoplastic resins and various additives), but not plastic either. The company calls the new material LIMEX Pellet. And it is already fully operational in the packaging materials market. Two large Vietnamese companies have signed contracts with TBM and use LIMEX Pellet as a basis for packaging their products.

BioTech is repackaging its flagship detergent Bio Clean and plans to expand the use of LIMEX Pellet to the rest of its product line. And Liwayway Vietnam has taken it up to create new packaging for its snacks.

It is worth noting that the new material can be used as regular plastic granules: it does not require changes in molding processes or machine designs. In addition, it is economically accessible and even profitable, since it is not subject to fluctuations in oil prices and is based on a fairly common material in nature.

Materials from the site tb-m.com were used.