Agri-Future Joetsu, a venture company based out of Western Japan, is selling a special kind of plastic without using oil but rather rice and wood in the production process.
Although Japan is (rightfully) known as one of THE rice-crazy nations in the world, Agri-Future is the only company in Nippon offering “rice plastic”. Agri-Future is even able to use perished rice and powdered wood, material that would otherwise be thrown away. As a result, there is virtually no increase in CO2 emissions, less garbage and the plastic can be manufactured with reasonable costs.
Among other things, the plastic, which is strangely called “agri wood”, is used for making plastic bags, kitchenware and school lunch trays.