STUDY, DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE

ALTERNATIVES TO PLASTIC TAKEAWAY CUTLERY AND

CROCKERY
Anirudh Gautam Student ,Masters of Sustainable Energies, ISEP, IPP,
Porto, Portugal.
Guide: Prof. Dr Ndia Caetano, Director- Masters of Sustainable Energies,
ISEP, IPP
 Introduction
In the last few decades the plastic industry has taken us by storm and
most things are packed and processed in plastic containers.

One of the most important example is that of the take-away industry

and the disposable cutlery/crockery industry.

It is estimated that we throw billions of plastic containers to trash ,the

issue facing us is recyclability and disposal.

This presents a huge opportunity for establishing a sustainable solution.

Materials under discussion

The materials discussed for making sustainable take-away containers are

Areca palm sheath, Sal leaves, Bauhinia vahlii leaves, coconut fiber/coconut
shells upcycled coconut leaf materials and banana fibers.
Since the extraction is done manually the impact of extraction is minimal.
Most of the raw material are extracted by hand and then transported to
processing companies.
It is in transport and processing where most of the embedded
energy/emissions are.
The greener it is , the lower impact it has on the environment
All energy and emissions used and emitted during each step was considered during calculations.
Conclusion

It is clear that from the challenges plastics pose these materials could
be an alternative with minimal impact when the source material is
obtained in a sustainable manner
From the cycle analysis and the comparisons to plastic and mass
produced paper alternatives, there is a clear indication that this could
be a solution for our current problems in waste management and
emissions.
The emissions involved in the current production methods are
minimal compared to the current take away materials produced..