Does a Single-Use Leaf Bowl Enhance Well-Being and Reduce Carbon Footprint?

Abstract

Carbon footprint (CF) became one of the valuable tools for assessment of greenhouse gas emission, resulting in global warming followed by the climate change, particularly in the food sector. The impact originated from food, food production, and packaging. Natural packaging was utilized for items such as wrappings, bowls, and bamboo tubes. These replaced modernized packages, including plastic bags and boxes as well as single-use polystyrene bowls. The latter significantly caused harm to both human health and the environment. These impacts led to the aims of this research, which were (1) to mold the leaf bowls from three types of leaves: Licuala spinosa, Dipterocarpus alatus Roxb. ex G.Don., and Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn followed by physical and biological testing; and (2) to assess the CF of each bowl compared to a polystyrene bowl. Molding factors were optimized using Minitab software. The optimized conditions were heating the leaves at 160 ^oC for 8 min, applying to all leaf types. The three different leaves were arranged parallel, perpendicular, and parallel to the vein, respectively. The leaf bowls from Dipterocarpus alatus Roxb. ex G.Don. provided an elegant look, high tensile stress resistance, and leak resistance; moreover, no microbial contamination was observed until the 30^th day. CF was assessed from the optimized factors and calculated by emission factors (EF) from the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO). A total of 1.8055 kgCO₂eq of carbon dioxide was emitted per one leaf bowl under the optimum molding factors. The emission was approximately 60% less than polystyrene foam (2.985 kgCO₂eq per kg, excluding the molding process). The significant advantages of leaf bowls were (1) no emission from raw material, (2) no toxicity, and (3) no requirement for waste management.