Lifestyle - Edible Cutlery

Your neighbour won’t complain if you went green while he gobbled his dinner, plates, spoon and fork, et al. He has perhaps gone green himself, in another sense, as he has taken the environment-friendly route.BK Environmental Innovations brought out the concept of edible cutlery — it can be eaten after use

It constitutes of sorghum (jowar) as its main ingredient.The company’s managing director Naryana Peesapaty says: “We are now targeting a Rs 5,000-crore disposable cutlery market in India.” Want to give it a try?The price of a kilo pack of edible cutlery is Rs 185.Peesapaty has sold around 300 packets this year and his clients range from sweet shops in Hyderabad to ITC Hotels.The company is now planning to open Jowari Fast Food counters in Hyderabad this month.The counters will sell pizzas and burgers that are made from jowar

Peesapaty isn’t alone in this unique green revolution.A host of other small companies are trying to grab a pie of the market for environment-friendly products, from furniture made of coir ply and CFCfree ACs and manually-operated sanitary napkin machines that produces napkins at half the price of the branded products available in the market.“It is a huge market waiting to be explored. Only a few companies have innovated products that will help them gain a foothold here. But we expect more companies to join the bandwagon soon,” says Prof Anil Gupta of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, who keenly follows and promotes grassroot innovators.Natura Fibertech manufactures coir into coirply, that is 40% cheaper than ordinary plywoods. The coir can be harvested within a period of 60 days.