When a dry leaf sheath of a betel palm falls to the ground, it is hard, tough and worthless.
Sumalee Phinyo sees it otherwise. For more than 20 years, she has added value to the dry leaf sheaths by turning them into disposable dishes -- environmental friendly, biodegradable and compostable. Sumalee, 58, is a pioneer in producing kab mak food containers in Thailand. Kab mak means betel palm leaf sheath in Thai.
Her project accidentally kicked off when she looked at those brown betel nut leaf sheaths scattered in her family's plantation in Sung Noen district in Nakhon Ratchasima while having lunch from a styrofoam food container. She touched the white lunch box, then she touched a dry leaf sheath. A question popped into her mind. She wondered if she could make a food box out of it.
"At that time, I was looking for a creative solution to replace foam food containers that were widely used in our 'Kin Khao Kham' [the annual light and sound event] in Sung Noen district," she said in recalling the 1996 festival.
In 1993, Sung Noen District Office hosted the first three-day light and sound show to promote Prasat Muang Khaek, the Khmer stone sanctuary and major attraction, after the ancient site was renovated by the archaeological team of the Fine Arts Department in 1990.
The event, which at that time had been held annually for 25 years, consisted of traditional dances, performances and local food served in khan tok style, a set of small plates of food put on a pedestal tray. The tray is used as a small dining table. It is a traditional dining of people in the Northeast, the North and also Laos.
As a council member of Sung Noen Municipality Office, Sumalee has been in charge of food since the event started. During the first year, she prepared foam food containers for all guests.
"Although the containers were easy to prepare and cheap, they did not fit the concept of the event which focused on traditional and historical aspects. After the show, I felt bad when I saw piles of foam containers," she said.
In 1994, she changed the containers to ceramic plates. She had another problem when some dishes were lost or broken. In the third year, she served food in fresh banana leaf containers. But the leaf boxes were easily torn and the sizes were inconsistent. People complained about the inconvenience and the small food portions.
Sumalee looked for an alternative. When she saw the dry betel nut leaves, she wanted to try making dishes out of it. She asked her husband, a mechanic in a military unit, to create a mould based on the size of a foam food container.
The outcome was impressive. After the leaf sheath was hot pressed in the mould, it turned out to be a durable brown box with a mild fragrance, and the box did not lose its shape when used. She showed her work to the district office chief. After getting the green light, she mass-produced her first kab mak plates for the fourth year Kin Khao Kham event. With the simple tool created by her husband, it took her months to produce about 10,000 plates for the show.
"Normally guests love the performances and food, but that year many people paid attention to my plates. When they knew that the dishes were made of dry betel palm leaf sheaths, they were amazed and that made me proud," she said.
Since 1996, she has produced the leaf sheath plates, which some prefer to call "betel palm leaf plates" for the event.
At that time, she did not think about making the disposable plates for commercial purposes. An opportunity came when the government announced the One Tambon One Product (Otop) programme in 2001 to promote local products and as a means to add value to home-grown handicrafts. The Sung Noen Municipality Office asked her to submit the betel palm leaf sheath plate to be certified because of its uniqueness.
She founded the Farmer Group of Betel Nut Plantation in Sung Noen and submitted kab mak plate products for Otop certification. The product received the four-star rating and has been promoted in the government's ThaiTambon.com website on the list of nationwide Otop products.
The Otop brand encouraged her to look for potential customers. She even visited the famous national parks of the Northeast with a naive idea that the parks -- whose duty was to protect the environment --should have banned all foam food containers, and they would be interested in her natural plates. But she was wrong. She had no new customers.
"At that time the awareness of using environmental-friendly products was low and was not as strong as today. Some people also complained that our price was too high," she said. A plate was priced at 3 baht almost two decade ago, and now the cost is 5 to 7 baht depending on sizes.
The farmer group struggled to find a market for years. In 2003, the group was invited to join the first Otop City fair in Muang Thong Thani. She thought it would have been a major breakthrough to promote the betel palm leaf sheath plates. However, the reality was quite the opposite.
"Many people at the fair were interested in our plates because of the light weight, light brown colour, nice texture and good smell. But they did not feel the need to buy one," she said.
Later she was contacted by international companies from Singapore and Europe. Unfortunately, the group did not have the capacity to produce betel nut leaf dishes in large quantities for export. The raw material was limited.
A betel nut palm must be at least three years old for its leaf sheaths to be big enough for making dishes. The sheaths can't be harvested, rather they must fall from the tree naturally. One palm can produce 15 dry sheaths a year. The period for collecting them are limited to dry season, running from November to April. If the sheaths are wet from rain, they develop mildew and can't be used for making food containers. And one sheath can produce only two plates.
In 2012, Sumalee got her first big order from a food vendor who was selected to sell rice with Thai-style omelette at the Big Mountain Music Festival in Khao Yai. The khai chieo vendor placed an order for 100,000 plates. Sumalee also produced plates for the Wonderfruit Music Festival since 2014.
Sumalee had to look for more suppliers of dry betel palm leaf sheaths beside farmers in her community. The suppliers expanded to farmers in many other provinces, including Chumphon and Surat Thani in the South.
When she wanted to expand her factory, she faced another problem. She couldn't find a start-up loan.
"It was very difficult to find funding. Most of the government's projects did not give me upfront payment. They offered me reimbursement. It was not useful because if I had money, why should I apply for funding?" she said. She had to seek personal loans from banks instead.
In 2015, Sumalee was invited to join a training programme by the Business Incubator Centre of Rajamangala University of Technology Isan. The centre advised her to register a company. She was advised to have a logo, to build a brand and to have good packaging. "I was not quite sure if it was a good idea to have a company, but I did what I was advised," she said.
She founded a company with a registration capital of 300,000 baht in 2015. She named her business Phinyovanich by combining the two family names of her husband, Phinyo, and hers, Yongvanich. She then came up with the brand name Veerasa. The name came from her parents, the father Veera and the mother Usa.
In 2016, her plates were selected by Central Food Retail Company -- the operator of Tops Supermarket -- to be sold in Tops branches. This year she increased the product line from disposable plates to baking cups for cakes and Thai desserts, drinking cups, spoons and forks. She also plans to create pots for planting seedlings.
Her kab mak containers are reusable. They also can be safely used in a microwave, an oven and a freezer. But the boxes will start to deform if they are used for steaming or holding water for hours.
"Our products passed the lab test of the National Science and Technology Development Agency that there is no mould and free from toxic or any chemical contamination. Our products are purely natural," she said.
As more people are aware of the environmental and health problems of disposable containers made from styrofoam and plastic, demand for biodegradable food containers increases.
Sumalee finally received a 7 million baht loan from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives this year to expand her facility, including a new laser cutting machine to improve the quality of products and double the production capacity to 3,000 plates a day.
Starting from a need to find a sustainable solution for the local event, today the kab mak plate is a growing business. Her humble factory on 2 rai plot of land and operated by only six workers is now known as a learning centre for students and business people who are interested in natural products. The local authorities in Sung Noen district also want to promote the kab mak plate business as an attraction of the district.
Sumalee is proud of her project. Her products have been displayed at many international fairs in the United States, Taiwan, Dubai and Germany.
"Our product is an alternative to other biodegradable food containers that are made of bamboo fibre, banana leaves, cassava or bagasse. Thailand has plenty of these natural resources. If we use more of these biodegradable products instead of foam and plastic, there is no need for the country to invest millions of baht in building waste management plants.
"Everyone can take part in reducing waste. Everyone can help make our world better," she noted.
