Plastic spoons are a major contributor to single-use plastic waste, and Planeteer is dedicated to providing one solution to this. Winner of last year’s SKS Future Food Award, Planeteer produces flavored, fully edible and compostable IncrEdible spoons.
Dinesh Tadepalli, one of the co-founders of Planeteer and IncrEdible spoon, sent me a variety box of the spoons to try out. As someone who carries around a titanium camping spoon in my purse or glove compartment to reduce my use of plastic utensils, I was excited to give these spoons a try.
The spoons come in a variety of both sweet and savory flavors, including chocolate, vanilla, black pepper, masala, oregano chili, and plain. The plant-based ingredients of the spoon consist of non-GMO wheat, corn, oats, brown rice, and chickpeas. For being made out of such simple ingredients, the spoons were surprisingly sturdy.
I first tried the vanilla spoon with a bowl of cereal. While eating the cereal, I definitely smelled the vanilla from the spoon. I wanted to test its durability, so I let the spoon soak in the leftover oat milk for 40 minutes. To my surprise, it was definitely softer but still functional. When I bit into the spoon, the flavor was reminiscent of Nilla wafers.
For dinner, I used the oregano chili flavored spoon in my bowl of miso ramen. It seemed like the spoon got softer quicker in the hot broth, but it still held up throughout the time it took for me to finish dinner. This flavor reminded me of a crunchy, vegetable cracker with a little kick from the chili flakes. I have yet to try the remaining flavors, but I look forward to trying the chocolate ones.
After trying the spoons, they seem like a unique and functional alternative to plastic utensils. In addition to Planeteer’s IncrEdible spoon, other companies on the market are producing edible and biodegradable utensils and straws in hopes of reducing plastic waste. TwentyFifty produces biodegradable forks and spoons made from wheat, corn, and soy flour that can break down in approximately 10 days. The AVO Beginning straw is made from an avocado pit bioplastic and takes a little less than a year to break down.
Edible and biodegradable utensils seem like a promising solution to plastic spoons, but unfortunately, these more sustainable options have not yet been able to compete with the cheap price of plastic yet. Plastic spoons purchased in bulk can be as cheap as a few pennies per spoon, while each IncrEdible spoon costs around $0.25 per spoon in bulk.
The IncrEdible spoon recently became available on Amazon, and 30 small spoons or 20 large spoons each cost $14.50. The company will also be partnering with some undisclosed restaurants for a trial run of the IncrEdible spoons. In addition to the spoon, the company is currently in R&D for sporks and straws. I hope to see the IncrEdible spoon as an option in restaurant take-out out food or ice cream; I would be happy to pay a few cents extra to replace my plastic spoon with an IncrEdible spoon.
