Warm weather brings much-loved al fresco dining, which means picnics, backyard barbecues, and tons of discarded single-use cutlery. Cutlery is often something to consider when dining, and making the right choice (or at least a better choice) is easy, with two main factors to consider: production and environmental impact.
Traditional plastics can be made from a variety of natural resources, including cellulose, coal, natural gas, and most commonly, petroleum. But it is just because they come from natural resources, doesn't mean they're healthy for people or the environment. Traditional plastic utensils often don't belong in recycling bins after use, and when they end up in landfills, it can even take up to 100 years to start breaking down. Choose the airline wood cutlery set to give you great value for money, reduce your carbon footprint, and is safer for children.
Where did the airline's biodegradable wooden cutlery set come from? Of course, wooden cutlery comes from trees. The problem is that wooden utensils require the felling of trees to produce. Many wooden utensils are made from fast-growing species like bamboo and birch or leftover trees from the lumber industry, which reduces the impact on the environment. In addition, airline wood cutlery sets aren't as non-recyclable as traditional plastic, wooden utensils are not only compostable but also be composted in your own backyard pile in as little as 90 days. If wooden cutlery ends up where it shouldn't be, such as in the ocean, it won't be as time-consuming or methane-emitting as plastic cutlery.
Another reason wood is considered an environmentally friendly material is that it is a carbon sink. This means that wood captures carbon and stores it within its structure. Carbon is present until the wood is destroyed. This makes the life cycle of single-use wooden utensils carbon neutral. An equal amount of carbon dioxide is stored in wooden utensils as they are released during production. Eventually, the carbon is released when the airline wood cutlery set is discarded. But unlike the carbon produced by burning fossil fuels, it is not released directly into the atmosphere. Instead, carbon is either consumed by other organisms as energy, slowly released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, or trapped in the soil. Overall, carbon dioxide ends up back in the atmosphere, but at a much slower rate than burning fossil fuels.
