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AN INDIAN MAN IN a collared white-and-beige shirt begins his three-minute-and-forty-second
video offering bleak, hard facts about plastic-use in his country, such as 120 billion pieces of
disposable plastic cutlery discarded annually in a nation that predominantly eats with hands. But
he has a solution: in a thick accent, he proposes a new cutlery, one that he proceeds to chew on
followed by a few whimsical taps against his soup bowl to show that his spoon, though doused in
broth, remains crunchy.
The man is Narayana Peespaty, chemist and associate research director at AC Nielsen The
spoon he’s chewing on is made of millets, rice and wheat – preservative-free, vegan, 100% edible
and the brainchild of his latest venture, Bakeys. Founded in 2011 in Hyderabad, Bakeys launched
on Kickstarter this March. In a mere month, it raised close to US$280,000. Peespaty is now
working on a full range of cutlery, which includes everything from ladles and chopsticks to bowls
and coffee stirrers, set to launch by 2017.
Also in March, Icelandic product design student Ari Jónsson came up with a biodegradable
drinking-bottle prototype made of powdered agar which, when mixed with water, forms a jelly-
like material that can be moulded into any shape. The designer says
these bottles will continue to stand until they are drained, though the
water may taste slightly salty after absorbing the agar.
In the same month, the most-discussed environmental start-up of
late, Ocean Cleanup, launched three computer models to determine the
locations and concentrations of plastic in the ocean in preparation for
its mission to extract and intercept plastic pollution in the Great Pacific
garbage patch in 2020. It also pencilled in its first trial early next year at
the Japanese island of Tsushima.
The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club recently announced it would no
longer sell beverages in single-use plastic bottles, or provide members
with plastic bags or plastic straws. This initiative took effect June 8
on World Oceans Day – a United Nations recognised annual day of
celebration and action for the ocean.
“Reducing the amount of waste being dumped into our oceans is one
of the challenges of our time,” says the Club’s Rear Commodore Sailing