Edible cutlery: An eco-friendly replacement for plastic cutlery

Abstract

Plastic has become a significant threat to the entire ecological system, the daily utilization of plastic products has several beyond-description losses like air pollution caused by incinerating plastic, pollution of the marine environment and microplastics damaging internal organs of animals and indirectly harming humans by consuming the sea-food, meat and other products which rife with micro-plastic. This review aimed to assess the replacement of plastic usage with a better alternative, including studies on various types of cutlery, preparation of edible cutlery, therapeutical properties and the market of edible cutlery.They occur in everyday life, which compromises the standard of living. Plastic usage can be minimized with a better alternative, as complete eradication is not possible due to their consistent dependence and usage. So, a better substitute is cutlery made up of plant-based products like rice, sorghum, wheat, soy, and rice bran flour. The edible cutlery has biodegradable and eco-friendly properties and is the finest substitute for plastic cutlery. This cutlery can help change the system of unhealthiness into a better lifestyle by minimizing the health-associated risks such as cancers, endocrine disruption, and impaired immunity with exposure to leaching plastic packages which are used to store food items. It can help to achieve sustainable development goals (SDG) of United Nations Organisation i.e., ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages (SDG-3) and take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (SDG-13), the ultimate aim of this paper was to reduce the usage of plastic and products made up of plastic.