After having been made of plastic for decades, today they are made of bamboo or even corn starch. But invariably, disposable cutlery ends up in the trash, for lack of a way to easily recycle them. This is the observation that Léa Maravelle was able to make when she worked in a tapas restaurant which used wooden cutlery. A click for this student
Purpan engineer, a school specializing in agriculture and agribusiness in Toulouse.
“Wooden cutlery is said to be recyclable, but it is unlikely that it is in fact. And those that are said to be biobased, made for example from sugar cane, require a transformation process that consumes more energy than plastic, ”says the young woman. With Marie Varin and Victoria Pagès, two other students, they decided to make it a student project called Croc Fork by creating disposable spoons, forks or even knives from downgraded fruits and vegetables.
Edible and compostable cutlery that meets the guidelines of the Egalim law, which prohibits all plastic products in take-out. After having had the idea, for several months they have been working on the design of their cutlery made from sweet potatoes and fruits rich in fiber such as pear, peach or apple. To coat, stiffen and waterproof them, they also use beeswax, and some ingredients kept very secret.
Patent by the end of the year
“We use local raw material from waste, damaged or downgraded fruit. Once we have used the cutlery, we can eat them, everything is edible, beeswax for example is used in the composition of many hard candies. If not, we could leave them on the ground, in a few days they will be degraded ”, assures Léa Maravelle who with her two acolytes won this year the Regional competition for student entrepreneurs.
They therefore need 2 to 5 grams of dry matter from the fruit to make a spoon, the cover they chose to develop first. After having created the prototypes at home and in the laboratories of their engineering school, they are in the testing and approval phase of their innovative product.
By the end of the year, they should have filed for a patent. And they hope to be able to move on to the industrialization phase at the beginning of next year to find them in shops during next summer. Especially at caterers and ice cream parlors, where their edible fruit-flavored spoon could replace cat’s tongue and bring a playful side.
A plus to promote their technology sold at 66 euros including VAT for 100 covers, when those in wood are sold at 10 euros and those in bamboo at more than 80 euros. With the advantage over these other materials, of being recyclable but also edible.