Shopping Basket Bioplastics

It's hard to believe, but this shopping basket is actually a classic from the 1950s. Known as Shopping Bag 329 from Sweden's then biggest plastics manufacturer Perstorp AB, the basket could be found in almost every Swedish household. Sturdy and virtually indestructible, light-weight and easy to clean, it was used for everything from grocery shopping at the market, picnics and trips to the beach, to gardening basket or as a storage container. Occasionally, it probably even stood in for the handbag. Then it was replaced by the plastic bags supermarkets offered their customers for free. Eventually, production of the basket was stopped altogether – much to the disappointment of future generations who only discovered years later that the basket was no longer available (which goes to show how long the basket lasted).
This was something the granddaughter of the Perstorp founder experienced herself. Ever since early childhood, the shopping basket had been a constant companion. As the owner of the factory Hinza, she decided to resume production in 2007, introducing state-of-the-art technology for environment-friendly production.

Like the 1960s original in design and style, the material now used to make the shopping basket comes from sugar cane. Bioplastics based on renewable raw materials has the same properties as the conventional product made of crude oil. It is sturdy and long-lasting, wipeable and easy to clean, lightweight and has a pleasant feel. If the bioplastics shopping basket needs to be disposed of after long-term use or exposure to extreme conditions, it can be recycled just like other plastics. If burnt, however, it produces no additional carbon dioxide, only as much as the sugar cane plants bind during growth.
The shopping basket is produced in the Swedish province of Småland. Transport routes are usually short, only the sugar cane comes from overseas, from Brazilian plantations, which are at least 2,500 km from the Amazon rainforest.