Wooden cutlery is the new disposable zero waste trend. It’s the single use cutlery that’s zero waste friendly. You’ve no doubt started to see wooden cutlery popping up at takeout restaurants. In an effort to reduce single use plastic, several restaurants have begun incorporating wooden cutlery into the fold. I first saw it in Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.
Some are made from wood while others are made using bamboo. Both options are biodegradable and compostable. Bamboo has a heat tolerance of up to 158°F while wood is higher up to 200°F.
Bamboo isn’t as expensive as wood so it is most likely that restaurants will choose bamboo cutlery over wood. Bamboo is a rapidly renewable resource making it a great option for disposable cutlery.
Meanwhile, wood cutlery, the more expensive option, can be made from a variety of wood types including birch, pine, willow, or poplar. Now compared to bamboo, wood has a downside. Wooden cutlery is porous and absorbent allowing it to absorb bacteria and moisture from food and liquids. Also, wooden cutlery is susceptible to cracking and splintering, which poses some potential hazards.
Overall, while wooden cutlery may be ideal for the environment there have been quite a few consumer complaints about it. One complaint reported by The Telegraph is that the spoons aren’t deep enough to eat soup with. Others complain about flavor transfer suggesting that the wood absorbs too much of the flavor compromising the enjoyment of the food being consumed. Additionally, some have complained that the knives aren’t sharp enough.
Suffice it to say that there are quite a few kinks still to be worked out before, and if at all, wooden cutlery goes mainstream. In the meantime, eco conscious consumers still have the option of toting their own cutlery to have on hand when they do takeout.
What are your thoughts? Do you foresee wooden cutlery going mainstream as the new zero waste disposable restaurantware?
