Those damned plastic utensils – convenient and yet noticeably destructive. Worldcentric.org estimates that 40 billion pieces of plastic cutlery head to landfills every year, decomposing as they release toxic chemicals. What’s a conscientious party-host to do!?
Enter edible cutlery – the iteration beyond compostable goods.
With a mission to take a bite out of plastic waster (sorry for the pun, couldn’t help myself) as well as help poor communities experience sustainability, the founder of Bakey’s, Narayana Peesapaty, has developed a multi-flavored, completed edible cutlery line that is far exceeding it’s Kickstarter goal of $20,000 for the first round of mass production. (As of this writing, the campaign has raised over $134,000 USD with over 2 weeks left for funding).
Developing the line of edible utensils, Pessapaty kept sustainability in mind. Instead of rice, the product uses mostly millet which takes a significantly less amount of water to grow. The utensils are flavored, encouraging consumption of the healthy good, but are also designed to decompose on their own in just a few days if they are discarded instead of eaten.
As the world’s population grows, the need to make each and every product a useful and sustainable product grows. More people naturally means more waste, which takes up too much space on the planet and often affects the poor and marginalized the most. Something like this can help as the ripple brings positive changes to people all over the world.
Would you take a bite out of plastic waste and back a Kickstarter for edible spoons? Share your thoughts and questions with @StarterNoise on Twitter.
