This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 29, 2025 - January 4, 2026

Chuah (second from right) with his father Chuah Ton Hua (second from left), elder brother Chuah Yao Lin (left) and sister Chuah Pei Ying at the Penang Green Summit

As a member of the third generation of family business Binsen Plastic Industry Sdn Bhd, which produces rigid plastic products, Darren Chuah felt that it was time the company ventured into something new to respond to the changing market.

At trade exhibitions, Binsen Plastic was increasingly asked about its sustainability efforts, with some questioning how a plastic company could go green. Chuah, whose grandfather founded the company in Penang back in 1980, began searching for solutions that could help it meet this demand.

He joined Binsen Plastic in 2015, after holding jobs outside of this industry.

“When my father fell sick, we were all asked to return to the company … There were challenges back then as we were in the red for three years. In 2018, we managed to turn a profit. I thought I wanted to leave but the business kept growing so I stayed,” says Chuah.

“Eight to nine years later, I felt that we couldn’t just do the traditional business anymore. We needed something new.”

That led to the founding of Binsen Green in August 2023.

Even though Binsen Plastic was already providing products containing recycled plastic to its clients, Chuah wanted to find different solutions for Binsen Green. He went abroad to search for scientists who were experts in edible packaging and sustainable packaging made from materials such as rice and hemp.

“I went to a science park in Hong Kong and found scientists who were working on a material [that did not need plastic coating] and would not leak. It is produced using the paper pulp moulding process, which is similar to how I make plastic containers,” says Chuah.

Unfortunately, the scientists would only work with him if he could secure a huge order, which was impossible at the time. Fortunately, in 2024, Chuah found another provider — AlterPacks Pte Ltd from Singapore — at the Penang Green Summit.

AlterPacks, which is supported by the Temasek Foundation and incubated at Singapore Management University, produces 100% plant-fibre materials that can be turned into food packaging.

Binsen Green’s packaging is made from plant fibre materials and suitable for industrial or home composting

According to AlterPacks’ website, the products will naturally break down in a home compost within four to six months and, if they are landfilled or incinerated, they will not leach harmful substances.

AlterPacks has several certifications including the AS4736 and AS5810 from Australia for commercial and home composting; Europe’s DIN CERTCO (9K0249, 9R055) for industrial and home composting; and certifications for safe food contact from the US, Japan and Singapore.

Additionally, the company claims that the materials it uses come from upcycled leftover agricultural waste and food by-products such as wheat husks and spent grains, and are free from man-made PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) chemicals and plastic.

Binsen Green is AlterPacks’ partner in Malaysia and it sells the raw materials and products in this market. “We have 40 to 50 years of experience in food packaging and our containers are sold in over 2,000 shops,” Chuah says when explaining the advantage that Binsen Green has.

Why did Chuah opt for this solution instead of biodegradable or compostable plastics, which seem to be gaining in popularity? He says he is driven by his desire to look for mono-material packaging, which is aligned with Binsen Plastic’s direction.

“Coffee sachets have four layers of materials, which are difficult to take apart. Mono-material packaging is easier to segregate [from other waste] and recycle to be turned into something new,” he points out.

Paper cups, which typically have a plastic lining, and certain “biodegradable” products that cannot fully decompose are other examples of complex materials that cannot be recycled or composted, he adds.

“Binsen’s plastic can easily be recycled. Our cover is made from PP (polypropylene) or PS (polystyrene) and our container is PET (polyethylene terephthalate). We have the recycling code printed, so it’s easy to identify.”

The company also provides sticker labelling services for its PET jars and encourages customers to work with its preferred suppliers, which have eco-friendly solutions, says Chuah.

Binsen Plastic does not produce flexible packaging, which is a more difficult material to tackle. Recyclers tend not to accept flexible packaging as it is often too damaged or dirty. Chuah is still exploring sustainable alternatives for this type of plastic.

Currently, most of Binsen Green’s clients are hotels, he says. It is still a challenge to promote these sustainable packaging alternatives due to their higher price points, which Chuah says can sometimes be one to two times above those of regular packaging. It is only with economies of scale and higher demand that the price can drop.

This could change with top-down policies. The Penang single-use plastic ban has not really impacted the use of this type of plastic because it is more focused on plastic bags. The upcoming extended producer responsibility (EPR) by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, however, could change the landscape, depending on its scope of coverage.

The EPR framework will require manufacturers to be responsible for the end-of-life management of plastic packaging, which could be done by reducing the use of materials that cannot be recycled or increasing the collection of recyclable materials.

Binsen Plastic’s clients would have to shoulder that responsibility, which means they would have to take on the extra cost. Or they could opt for alternative non-plastic materials, such as those offered by Binsen Green, if the scope of the EPR covers food packaging.

This is a new area for the family business and Chuah, who has a positive view of the state’s direction, is eager to drive it forward.

“I think Penang people are very fierce. Look at the way we drive! We are pioneers … People here can accept new things, rules and regulations, and then the other states will follow,” he says.