VerTerra Natural Dinnerware Eco Product Review

VerTerra dinnerware are plates, bowls and platters that are made from 100% fallen leaves.

No glue, chemicals, varnishes, or bonding agents are used. The plates go through three levels of sterlization: steaming; high-pressure spraying; and UV sterilizing (while recapturing at least 80% of the water) and then are heated in an oven. It has taken them two years to perfect a safe product.

I’ve embedded a video below to show the plates in more details. If you’re reading from RSS and can’t see the video, please click here.

Each piece is made from 100% renewable and compostable plant matter and water. You can even use it to reheat in the microwave, bake in the oven, or cool in the fridge. The plates were really strong when I tested, destroying them took a lot more effort than paper or plastic. They worked well when wet and can simply be dried off and used again with no ill effects.

They are made in South Asia, and the leaves will biodegrade when composted in about 2 - 3 months. Check out their products at the VerTerra website.

All Disposable Products Should Be Like This!

We review a lot of great alternatives to “traditional” products, ones that are just as good (or better), sometimes costing around the same, and we often come to the conclusion - why do we still use the popular versions?

Disposable cutlery and containers are products that are difficult to avoid. There are times when reusable cutlery is not practical or allowed (i.e airplanes) and while remembering to take your own containers to takeaway places (or even restaurants for left-overs) is an admirable goal, it’s not one that we’re all likely to achieve any time soon.

To that end, Dispoz-o have sponsored a review of their latest environmentally conscious products - enviroware biodegradable cutlery, straws, hinged containers, plates and bowls.

About Dispoz-o

Creating a biodegradable product with the same characteristics as non-biodegradable plastics seems like a great achievement to me. Beginning their “greening” in 1999, Dispoz-o began with using recycled materials, water reclamation, energy saving systems, and many other initiatives in their factories following the 3Rs of Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. But this wasn’t enough; they partnered with MIT to create “envirofoam” dinnerware in order to reduce their environmental footprint. Then, in 2005, they began their quest to make their disposable plastic products out of biodegradable material, which would be realized in 2008.

Biodegradable Cutlery and Plates

There are several different ways to achieve this goal, each with their pros and cons, and it took over two years for them to discover their final method - Active Organic Catalyst (AOC). The AOC agents act as a stimulus for micro-organisms to produce an enzyme that breaks up the molecular chain into much smaller structures. Once this is done, the micro-organisms can then metabolize these structures into organic material. Enviroware is FDA approved and meets lots of acronym standards that you can look up on their website.

Depending on how active a landfill is the products will degrade in as little as 9 months and up to five years, compared to a typical estimated 400 years with current plastics and traditional food containers. They break down completely into carbon dioxide, water and methane and leave no toxic residue.

Yes, it’s still plastic

The products are either polypropylene or polystyrene plastic (made from petroleum), but coupled with AOC their products are now 100% biodegradable. It is better to avoid using plastic at all but there are times when you can’t avoid it, and there are some people and companies who don’t care about avoiding plastic. I’m all about making things easier for people and taking small steps towards being green, so using green products that look the same and function the same as traditional non-green products is a great move. I’ve tried many of them out personally and you can’t notice the difference at all with enviroware.

Enviroware make 100% biodegradable single use products including plates, bowls, hinged take-out containers, school lunch trays, cutlery, cutlery kits, straws and stirrers. If you’re a business who uses the non-biodegradable versions of these products and aren’t about to, or able to change anytime soon, then take a look a Dispoz-o enviroware. Houston Independent School District have just announced their move to biodegradable products.

Potato Pak Biodegradable Plates Product Review

Potato Pak offers a wide range of 100% biodegradable plates and bowls made from potato starch. The products are non-toxic and of course, very environmentally friendly. The current available products range from ‘dinner-sized’ plates, to small bowls and even ‘take-away style’ punnets with secure lids.

The green-credentials of these products look to be fantastic. As mentioned above, being 100% biodegradable means that these products will quickly break down in your compost heap or even a worm farm. The packaging that the products arrived in is known as pop starch, a starch based cushioning product which eliminates the need for polystyrene filling in the package. I dropped one of these starch balls in some water and it dissolved away almost instantly. The product did, however, come with minimal plastic wrap. I assume this is out of necessity as the product will need to be kept secure to prevent damage during transport.

According to the information sheet you can even eat the plate if you feel the inclination, although this isn’t recommended. I ran a taste test on one of the plates and while edible, there isn’t really much of a taste beyond a papery/cardboard one!

As you can see in the photos, most of the products come in a beige-cream colour, although coloured varieties are also available. The coloured plates and bowls provide an excellent alternative to their polystyrene counterparts used in events such as birthday parties for kids.

Potato Pak also offer wooden utensils to go with the plates and bowls. These are a good, eco-friendly alternative to the usual plastic forks, spoons and knives. As their website correctly mentions, plastic products require oil during their manufacturing, which is not only environmentally unfriendly, but a limited, non-renewable resource as well. The wooden utensils are also a lot stronger than your typical plastic one.

The plates and bowls are a bit thicker than polystyrene plates and bowls which means that the amount of heat transferred is reduced. This means you can hold onto a plateful of hot food a lot easier than you can do with a polystyrene plate. Currently, the products are not capable of holding hot liquids, such as coffees and soups but Potato Pak does mention that they are conducting research into making a product that can handle hot liquids. If this is achieved then they will be able to branch out into replacing things like the typical polystyrene coffee cup with a green alternative.

The plates and bowls are surprisingly durable. Compared to the typical paper plate option, these items are incredibly strong and sturdy. One thing we did notice though, if there is a small split on the sides of a plate or bowl, you’ll need treat it with a bit more care as they can split quickly from there. We tested how much weight we could load the plate (no damage) with before it broke. Holding the plate on one end, we loaded 600 grams of apples on the opposite end and the plate held up perfectly. Of course in reality you’ll most likely be holding the plate in the middle, but the test shows how strong these items really are.

Potato Pak products are really suited to ‘greening’ the birthday party, barbecue, outdoor social function type markets. Due to their short life-span it’s not very realistic to use around the home for everyday use. By providing an environmentally friendly alternative to temporary cutlery, Potato Pak products are helping to reach zero-waste targets which are landfills are currently trying to achieve.

All in all we were really impressed with the products offered by Potato Pak. I am also looking at the potential benefits of the light-weight products for use in tramping (hiking) trips. With new products on the horizon the product range looks to become even more practical and usable in more of our everyday cutlery and utensil needs.

For more information you can visit their website on www.potatoplates.com, and read more product reviews in our Review & Shop section.