(Bondar Illia / Shutterstock.com)
If you thought eating your food from leaves was something only for survivalists on ancient tribes, you are in for a surprise. German company Leaf Republic has come up with a way to create beautiful disposable tableware made entirely from leaves.
The innovative plates are constructed from three layers of leaves that are stitched together with 100 percent bio-degradable palm leaf fibers and are then pressed into all different kinds of bowls and plates. All of the layers, a bottom layer of leaves, a middle layer of paper made from leaves, and a top layer of leaves are completely natural with not a bit of artificial material anywhere in sight. Since there are no glues, additives, or plastics anywhere in the product, the entire plate decomposes after only 28 days.
Leaf Republic's tableware is not only beautiful to look at, but also surprisingly resilient. The plates have a shelf-life of about a year and a half and, when used with dry foods such as chips or other snacks, can be reused multiple times before finding their way into your compost pile. “This is not only about outdoor tableware,” Leaf Republic writes on their Kickstarter page. “It is about food packaging. It is about preventing plastic waste. It is about preventing trees from being cut for paper production. It is about the next generations.”
The ambitious project already came a long way from the drawing board in the living room of its founders Pedram Zolgadri and Carolin Fiechter, and is currently looking for investors to reach the next level of production on a fully automated production line. If the small company's current success is any indicator, they are off to a good start into a greener future.
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