Polyvinyl Alcohol Coating for Food Container from Thermoformed Teak Leaves

Thailand faces a plastic waste crisis, particularly from plastic packaging and containers, which severely impacts the environment and marine ecosystems. Meanwhile, Thailand has vast teak plantations, and recent legal amendments now enable farmers to cultivate and harvest valuable timber on their land. Teak trees take approximately 20 years to mature to a trunk size suitable for the timber industry. However, before the trees reach maturity, farmers can make use of teak leaves. These leaves can potentially be used as food containers to help reduce plastic consumption. However, there is currently no research on suitable coatings for teak leaf-based containers. This study, therefore, focuses on developing containers made from teak leaves using thermo-compression mold as bowl-shape coating with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to enhance the barrier property and strength. The PVA was a synthetic, water-soluble polymer which is biodegradable, non-toxic, and has excellent film-forming. This innovative biobased container not only solves the problem of plastic packaging waste but also increases the long-term value of teak trees.