(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-23 17:38

A man from Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, who claims to have invented a kind of disposable tableware made of rice, is looking for Chinese backers even though, he says, more than 20 foreign companies have expressed interest in it.

Dai Chengbeng, a retired soldier in Nanchang, felt inspired to do something for the country after China won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

The sight of paper and plastic lunch boxes on trains gave him an idea and after two years of research, Dai came up with the rice-based tableware which can be made into various shapes and can endure high temperatures.

Dai says it can also be degraded in 30 minutes and costs just 0.1 yuan apiece as against 0.3 yuan for the paper boxes now in use.