Edible Utensils from India!! Tasty Alternative than Plastic Waste :)

http://www.bakeys.com/

Eat your utensil and prevent waste at its source!

Bakeys is launching the world’s first edible cutlery line made of three flours: rice, wheat, and sorghum. Help us change the way we eat and think about waste!

And we understand how important it is to be able to provide delicious cutlery that can be eaten by anyone. We are already fully vegan, preservative free, trans fat free, dairy free and operate on principals of fair trade.

Our mission is to start a cutlery revolution. Currently, about 40 BILLION plastic utensils are used just within the United States within a year. Worldwide, this becomes a figure at 16 times this magnitude. A majority of these utensils are only used once and then discarded.

Compostable utensils made of corn may seem like an answer to the problem. But it turns out, a good percentage of corn based biodegradable utensils are thrown into landfills anyway, where they will remain for a very long time without degradation. Because these utensils need high heat and very specific conditions to properly degrade, many times their benefits are negated.

Of course, one may ask, why do we not just replace all our utensils with reusable cutlery. Ask yourself, is this possible in today’s globalized world? Is it possible for the millions of fast food restaurants around the world to provide reusable cutlery for one of the many customers that come in for lunch?

Therefore, our goal is to provide a replacement for the current disposable utensils on the market. Our spoons are delicious, but if they are not consumed, they are able to degrade in any outside environment, as they do not have specific requirements for degradation. In a standard environment where the spoons are exposed to nature, they will degrade within 10 days or be eaten by other animals, similarly to a biscuit that may be thrown outdoors.

                  INGREDIENTS

Our ingredients are as simple with absolutely no preservatives. The lack of water, moisture, or fat in our product allows it to have a long shelf life without the need for extra preservatives. They include: sorghum flour, rice flour, and wheat flour. However, because we knead our dough through a certain method, our final product contains less than 10 ppm in gluten. Though we are not yet certified gluten free, we are working on it, and our ultimate goal is to create a formulation that requires absolutely no wheat.

Our first offering, the edible lunch spoon, goes perfect with ice cream, yogurt, and a variety of soups. The spoon itself does not degrade within liquids due to the presence of a large quantity of sorghum, a hearty crop that is strong, abundant, and requires very little energy for cultivation.

That brings us to our main point of why we have chosen to use sorghum as our primary ingredient. Compared to sugarcane and corn, which are the major crops currently used for biodegradables, sorghum requires far fewer nutrients and water for cultivation. In fact, if we look at the kilowatt hours required to produce one biodegradable corn based spoon vs one sorghum based edible spoon, we can draw the following conclusions:

Figures for PP and Corn PLA taken from: http://worldcentric.org/sustainability/energy-savings. Values for sorghum taken from water usage in producing and generating sorghum crops as well as forming the crop into spoons.

Of the energy it takes to produce 1 plastic utensil, we can produce 100 sorghum based spoons. And in comparison to Corn/PLA, we are able to produce 50. Our energy costs are minimized through a semi-automatic process that minimizes waste and maximizes efficiency. Our low usage of water in the production of each spoon (Less than 2% of the weight per spoon), allows our spoons to have a very long shelf life up to 2 years while maintaining their crispness.

Our ambitions stretch far beyond the realm of edible spoons. Currently, we have molds to produce chopsticks, dessert spoons, and forks. Our plan is to expand into cups, plates, and many more traditional disposable tableware. Our goal is to create and expand into a whole new line.

Our History

BAKEYS’ was established in 2010 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, to provide an alternative to plastic disposable cutlery and the bamboo disposable chopsticks. After much research, we have developed the designs of the product, used it and enhanced it so that the user feels comfortable in all aspects of using cutlery. We were excited with that and invested in many hours of research, to reach wider markets.