Banana fiber food packaging is on its way to Egypt: Green packaging tech developer Papyrus Australia has deployed the base equipment for setting up a factory for a biodegradable food packaging manufacturing factory in Egypt, a statement notes. The plant will process 2.5k tons of banana fiber per year from plantation waste and produce around 35 mn food packages annually, according to a statement (pdf) published last November.

This has been in the works for a year: Papyrus Australia signed an agreement with Egypt’s National Authority for Military Production in October 2022 to establish the factory in the country, the statement said.

Papyrus Australia already has a presence in Egypt: Papyrus Australia manages twofactories in Egypt — a banana fiber production plant in Sohag established in 2017 in a JV with the Egypt Banana Fibre Company, and a banana fiber molding plant in Sharqiyah established in 2021. Papyrus leased the Sharqiyah fiber molding facility in November 2021 to fast-track the testing and production of molded food packaging products made from banana fiber.

And there’s big potential: With over 70k acres of banana plantations, Egypt produces more than 6 mn tons of agri-waste per year, which is “costly for the industry to dispose of and contributes to high levels of methane emission as it breaks down,” the statement explains. According to the tech developer, Egypt has the potential to establish up to 40 banana plantation waste conversion factories.

The Sohag project is backed by EBRD: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) extended a grant for the development of the Sohag plant’s five-year business plan and anticipated expansion plans, according to a statement (pdf) released in July 2022. The value of the grant has not been disclosed.

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