The core business of the Return 2 Green and Bio Green Bags companies are mainly Research and Development (R&D), and the manufacturing and supply of bio-technology packaging products made from renewable sources. Presently agricultural waste such as corn husks, sugar cane bagasse is being processed into bio-degradable 100% eco-friendly packaging.

Ongoing research into tapioca stems and paddy rice husks as well as corn stovers as raw materials for the future production of bio-degradable packaging is also taking place.

In the future, attempts will be made to isolate the micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi to break down the raw materials and process them into packaging products.

The team does analysis based upon international compliance standards such as the European Union (EU) standards, Australian standards, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, etc., and are able to conduct the tests locally to comply with those various national standards.

For example, Australia's standard AS4736 relates to packaging compostability and bio-degradation. The products of Bio Green Bags already meet those standards, as well as the relevant E.U. standards and FDA approval has already been granted in the U.S.

Shahida Safirol, is a Micro-biologist, who joined Return 2 Green / Bio Green Bags in December last year. She hopes to contribute her expertise to the improvement of the eco-friendly products of the companies and in this way reduce negative impact upon the environemnt.

Tho Ven, is also a Micro-biologist at the company and is excited at the prospects of working for Malaysia's leading green company alongside her colleagues.

Kanthan comes from the pharmaceutical industry and is doing a lot of R&D (Research and Development) work which is his great interest and he said he is pleased to have the chance to work in an environmentally-friendly company to assist in the development of bio-degradable products.

Tharani Anbalakan, 24, is a Micro-biologist graduated from the Univesity Industry Selangor (Unisel) and joined the company after applying for a job in Research and Development. She wants to play a part to save the earth for future generations, and sees this as an opportunity to do so.

Anushia Velloo, joined the company as a fresh graduate interested in doing research so that she can help the team to come up with bio-degradable products of high standards in order to overcome the global warming problem.

Siti Fatimah, also a Micro-biologist, is also doing R&D at Bio Green Bags / Return 2 Green along with her colleagues. She believes that this company has a great potential for success, since bio-technology is new to Malaysia. Siti wants to take this as a challenge to develop solutions to the environmental problems via eco-friendly alternatives.

Fariza is a Chemist at the twin companies, and joined they opened last year. Fariza hopes to reduce the usage of plastics as it is so damaging to the environment and our health. As we should all know, plastic is not bio-degradable and stays around for some 1,000 years after being discarded. This causes not only pollution to the environment but also is klling unimaginable numbers of marine life and animals who choke on the bags or are suffocated.

Harwin Kaur said she was always motivated to work in the R&D area of chemistry, and while working in commercial labs conducting tests, she was on the look out for any opportunity to be able to participate in a world-leading field of R&D to put something back into life and help create a better world. Thus joining the Return 2 Green / Bio Green Bags R&D team was a great opportunity she could not pass up, in order to be part of an exciting development for humanity.

Ahmad Nazree, aged 27, is a Micro-biologist also working in the R&D team and sees and predicts that the Return 2 Green company will be the future leader in bio-degradable and compostable plastics products worldwide. He wants to grow with the company and the opportunities it presents. He is also interested in working on the improvement of existing bio-plastic products such as polylactic acid polymers, starch thermo-plastic and Poly Hydroxy Alkanoate (PHA) etc.

Capabilities of Return 2 Green / Bio Green Bags Research & Development

Return 2 Green products such as Bio Green Bags are developed in the Biology Laboratory and are the result of several R&D processes, including:

Micro-organism isolation and screening

This is the process whereby the micro-organism that degrades the cellulose and bio-plastic is isolated and researched to determine the time to degrade and return to nature, and screening is filtering the bacteria best able to facilitate the degradation.

Study of new strain for product improvement

The R&D teams find and study new bacteria to improve upon bio-degradable products such as packaging.

Protein and enzyme extraction

This is the process whereby proteins and enzymes capable of rapid degradation. These are used in the product material after being extracted from the micro-organism.

Process Optimization

The entire processes are optimized for maximum efficiency and quality.

Product Stability Studies

Studies are made to monitor and study the products during storage in various environments.

CHEMICAL LABORATORY

The Chemical laboratory of Return 2 Green Sdn Bhd / Bio Green Bags Sdn Bhd has capabilities in the following areas involving R&D:

ROHS Analysis

This is the Restriction Of Hazardous Substances, such as lead, arsenic, mercury, PBB, PBDE, etc. This analysis ensures that safety levels are observed in all packaging as these are used for protecting food products.

Enzyme isolation, identification, yield calculation

This is the chemical part of the enzymes. The team has to find out what the chemical substance in the enzyme that has the capability to degrade. That is how the enzymes are isolated according to their useful function and as required. Yield calculation means how much of the desired result is obtained from the enzyme identified.

Pigment Extraction

This is R&D whereby the company wants to use natural dye for the colouring process, and to ensure this is environmentally friendly
and extracted from natural sources such as fruit shells, in the company's eco-friendly and natural products.

Identification of pesticides in raw material

This process involves ensuring the limits of the presence of pesticides in raw materials supplied by farmers, for example, are met so that the suitable materials meeting regulations are able to be used in the bio-degradable products of the company.

Food Act Analysis (FDA)

Analysis conducted to ensure compliance with other regulations for various national markets.

Polymers analysis

This is analysis conducted in order to identify which agricultural waste product can be used for various packaging product types. For example, the positioning of the polymers in the fibres of the agricultural waste raw material is required to be known in order to make sure that the product will be able to correctly serve its intended usage purpose.

The Malaysian company Return 2 Green thus has the capability to become leaders in the field of Research and Development as well as in the manufacture and distribution of eco-friendly bio-degradable packaging world wide, and are already opening a number of factories in Malaysia.

For further information please visit www.return2green.com.my and www.biogreenbags.com.my