It’s no secret that floating garbage patches filled with plastic can be found in many if not all of the worlds oceans. Increasingly we are seeing new solution to the gargantuous task of cleaning up plastic litter in the marine environment. Scientist have discovered plastic eating bacteria, cities have banned the use of plastic bags, and projects to sucks, syphon and filter seawater are becoming reality. While cleaning the ocean may seem like a monumental endeavor, entrepreneurs are coming up with new environmentally friendly products which eliminate plastic all together.
We bring you the story of Edible Cutlery from India. Each year 120 Billion disposable pieces of plastic are discarded in India and Edible Cutlery is a practical and creative solution to a major global issue. Although the product is not marketed to directly reduce ocean plastics, we think it’s safe to assume some of those 120 Billion pieces of plastic will end up in a river if not directly into the ocean.Edible Cultery is made with a base of miller and comes in three flavors, sweet, savory or plain and is made with all natural ingredients. Before creating edible cutler, founder Narayana Peesapathy was researching the use of groundwater in India. Because of his previous research he encourages the use of millet over rice as millet consumes 60 times less water to cultivate than rice.
The cutlery even holds up to soup and tea while staying strong not soggy, is nutritious and has a shelve life of three years. Best of all if you dont want to eat the cutlery you can just throw it away and it will decompose in 4 to 5 days. Currently the edible cutlery is being marketed in India with over 1.5 million units of edible cutlery sold to date.We think this is not only a creative but tasty solution to disposable plastic cutlery and hope to see this idea catch on outside of India.
Reducing Ocean Plastic with Edible Cutlery