Alternatives to disposable plastic cutlery

Mar 21, 2023Enviroware, News

Single use plastics ban

Single-use plastic items were banned in Scotland last June, and in September the Welsh Government announced the Environmental Protection – Single-use Plastic Products – Wales Bill. On 14th January, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced that a range of single-use plastics will be banned in England, from October 2023.

The ban in England covers items including single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers.

It also applies to items made from bio-based, biodegradable or compostable plastic (PLA).

Alternatives to plastic cutlery

In today’s fast-paced world, the food to go market is growing. Trends such as Streetfoods are increasing in popularity, a UK market worth over £600 million and growing by 20% per year, according to industry organisation British Street Food (britishstreetfood.co.uk).

Cutlery is often essential when eating a meal on the go. Wooden cutlery (chip forks) have been commonplace in fish & chip takeaways for many years. And most recently brands such as McDonalds have rolled out paper cutlery as an alternative to disposable plastic forks.

At Celebration Packaging we offer disposable cutlery in various materials, to beat the plastics ban.

Paper Cutlery

EnviroWare® Paper Cutlery is sourced from sustainable trees. The range includes paper knives, forks and spoons in standard (large) and shorter (small) lengths.

Paper cutlery is certified according to FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) standards. Paper cutlery is smooth and surprisingly sturdy, with the large knife, fork and spoon having a reinforced handle for additional strength.

Paper cutlery alternative to plastic cutlery

Bagasse Cutlery (moulded fibre)

Consumers may already be familiar with Bagasse moulded fibre takeaway boxes. Many streetfood vendors across the UK have now switched to bagasse boxes and food trays to serve their food, in an effort to move away from traditional foam takeaway packaging. Celebration Packaging, have recently introduced Bagasse disposable knives, forks and spoons.

Bagasse is a by-product from processing sugarcane into edible sugar. This tree-free, fast-growing resource is abundant – approximately 1.8 billion tons of sugarcane was processed in 2020! (statista.com, sugar cane production worldwide).

Bagasse Cutlery disposable knife, fork, spoon

Wooden Cutlery

Our quality disposable wooden cutlery range includes knives, forks and spoons made from sustainable FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) certified wood.

Standard and medium length wooden knives, forks and spoons are available. Along with specialist items including wooden ice cream spades and wooden chip forks.

Wrapped Wooden Cutlery

Developed during the Covid pandemic, our range of individually wrapped wooden cutlery promotes optimum hygiene practices.

Tear open the plastic-free, paper wrapper, for a fresh, untouched item of cutlery.

Individually wrapped cutlery items include knives, forks, spoons and small dessert or tea spoons. Also available, 4-in-1 wrapped meal kits – each containing a wooden knife, fork, spoon and napkin.