Shikoku Chemical Machinery

Shikoku Chemical Machinery develops 15% okara-loaded polyethylene resin

Shikoku Chemical Machinery, a Japanese food filling equipment maker, has developed a bio-based resin blending dried soybean okara with polyethylene at a 15% ratio. The material has been launched commercially as an uchiwa fan made with Kagawa fan manufacturer YAMADA, and the company plans to extend its use to food containers.

Why this mattersA 15% food by-product loading in polyethylene points to a route for diverting processing waste into packaging resin, if it scales beyond promotional items.

• Shikoku Chemical Machinery mixed dried soybean okara into petroleum-derived polyethylene at a 15% ratio to create okara resin
• The company produces about 15,000 tonnes of okara by-product a year from its soy food business, similar in volume to its tofu output
• About 3,000 tonnes of that okara is currently used for powder, food and other processing; the rest is recycled as fertiliser, feed or incinerated
• First commercial application is an okara uchiwa fan made with fan manufacturer YAMADA of Kagawa Prefecture, each using 3.4 grams of okara resin
• The company intends to expand okara resin use as a raw material for food containers

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