Water Caltrop: 
Waste to Prosper & Offer

About The Company

Guantian Black Gold is a company located in Tainan that focuses on promoting Taiwan’s traditional culture with local characteristics. The company operates abundant local natural resources to transform Guantain’s unique “black gold” into valuable products. Furthermore, Guantian is an area in Tainian that is well known as Taiwan's high-planting quality area due to its special water and soil conditions; many places are planted with water caltrop shells, resulting in the rise of the water caltrop industry. However, disposing of the waste of water caltrop shells became a big crisis. To resolve this crisis, the company thought of first utilizing discarded water caltrop shells to convert into water caltrop biochar and thereafter, making them into biodegradable tableware, packaging materials, or handicrafts to demonstrate the purpose of durability and long-lasting properties. Meanwhile, after the process, water caltrop shells can also be convenient for bringing benefits to agricultural production, improving the soil conditions. With Guantain’s innovative methods, they not only reduced the locals’ disposal of water caltrop shells but also enhanced the economic value of water caltrop businesses.

Guantian Black Gold actively cooperates with local farmers to establish a stable supply chain and invests financial and technical resources to foster innovative applications of water caltrop-related products. By combining biochar with other products, the company created a model that merges agricultural transition and some modern innovations. It has become a representative of Taiwan’s agricultural brands in developing a green economy.  

Company's Objective 

During the interview, director Lee mentioned water caltrop is the main industry in Taiwan because it occupies 85% of the business. Normally, everyone only pays attention to the flesh inside the caltrop, while the shells are discarded back into the fields, the roadside, or letting it burn causing unpleasant small and increasing air pollution. Guantain District is the main construction area of the water caltrop, accounting for at least 70% of the total domestic composition. Despite the large amount of disposed caltrop shells, they had exceeded up to a thousand tons each year, influencing danger for incinerators and becoming a headache for local environmental protection. Therefore, the company wanted to find a solution that would achieve the goal of a circular economy and giving back to society. “Reutilize and elevate local resources to create an agricultural value that integrates sustainability and innovations.” This is a quote that shows Guantian Black Gold’s mission focuses on traditionally neglected products, giving new innovative processing technology and market-oriented operations. The company was founded to address the waste problem of water caltrop shells and establish sustainable solutions for local agriculture. Water caltrop shells not only have good biodegradability but can also be adapted and alter into practical products. To conclude, with environmental protection and society responsibility as the core, Guantain will accomplish sustainability goals.  

Company's Fo​​unding Journey  

Guantian Black Gold was inspired to build up the water caltrop industries because of the phenomenon of large amounts of abandoned water caltrop shells. In 2015, a group of young entrepreneurs from Tainan discovered this problem. Mr. Cheng Xian Li thought that water caltrop shells were a natural material that had a lot of potential. However, they have not yet been fully explored. The entrepreneurial team was determined to study the characteristics of water caltrop shells first, discovering that their durability and environmentally friendly qualities make them a very suitable material for making biodegradable products. At first, Guantian Black Gold faced the problems of not having enough technologies and a low percentage of the market accepting, but the team adhered to
 the concept of environmental protection and innovation. 

As time went by, they discovered many products made with water caltrop shells, such as recycled utensils, packaging boxes, and handicrafts. In 2017, with the support of local farmers, the company invented the first water caltrop shell processing production line, inventing a series of recycled utensils. At the same time, the company fully participated in Domestic and International Environmental Protection Exhibitions to develop the popularity of the brand. Moreover, they started to cooperate with other restaurants. As the technologies started to develop, Guantian Black Gold started to let water caltrop shells spread in more different areas, such as soil conditioners and home design materials. This may allow the local economy to have more development opportunities. Now, Guantian Black Gold has become Taiwan's Green Economy brand, achieving the main concept of transforming local resources from waste to treasure and introducing them to the global market.