For any business offering takeaway food and drinks, it’s likely you’ll already have considered replacing your plastic containers and cutlery with other options. After all, finding sustainable solutions for dispensable food packaging and utensils is one of the hottest topics in the industry right now.
When it comes to disposable cutlery, one viable alternative is to provide knives, forks and spoons made from birchwood. A new offering from the expanding Sustain range, these utensils are durable, good looking and, most importantly, environmentally friendly. That’s because Sustain cutlery is made using a wood that is sourced from sustainably managed forests, and is compostable in industrial facilities.
It helps, too, that birch is a natural candidate for producing cutlery, thanks to its smooth surface and rich sheen. All of which represents a great alternative to plastics, at a time when the negative effects of offering single-use items are better known – and are being acted upon.
A ban on the supply of straws, stirrers and cutlery has recently come into force in South Australia, with Queensland’s ban starting in September. All other Australian States and Territories are looking to follow suit, and New Zealand is considering similar actions as well. It’s quite a turnaround for a material that had once seemed a Godsend. When the first plastic knives, forks and spoons appeared in the 1940s, they were sold as cheap, tough, reusable alternatives to stainless steel varieties. And within a couple of decades, particularly amid the growth of the fast food industry and air travel, plastic cutlery had come to be seen as the perfect solution for those on the go. It was after all lightweight, inexpensive and, importantly, disposable.
Nowadays, we know that alternatives need to be sustainable, not just functional.
The Sustain range does exactly that, with its new cutlery options being offered
alongside paper cups, plates and straws — proving a smart choice while single-use plastics come to be gradually phased out over the next few years.
