India has the highest population of any nation in the world. Their urban centers are so densely populated that they are one of the biggest contributers of plastic pollution in the world, over 120 billion pieces of plastic utensils are thrown out of India every year. Plastic does not bio-degrade and poisons the environment around it which includes the humans that eat with it. Narayana Peesapaty who is a researcher of agriculture in India wanted to find a way to make a meaningful impact on plastic pollution. He spent years and even put up his home as collateral to develop edible utensils. His utensils are made of millet, rice, and wheat flours with no preservatives which makes them highly nutritious. The utensils themselves have a shelf life of 2-3 years and even come in various flavors to complement whatever meal you’re eating. As a bonus, it can even stand being in hot liquid like soup or coffee for up to 20 minutes. In the case that you don’t feel like eating your utensils, you can just throw them away and they’ll bio-degrade in just four days.

In addition, the utensils are made primarily of millets which consume far less water than rice to cultivate. This is better for the environment and for farmers as well. He aims to have a synergistic relationship with farmers where he will have them cultivate more more efficient crops and he’ll get cheaper prices by buying in bulk directly from farms. Narayana Peesapaty hopes that through this innovation he can bring this idea to a global level. In the 5 years he’s been in business, he’s sold over 1.5 million units. The biggest challenge that he identifies is cost. The reason why plastic utensils or plastics in general are used is because they are so cheap and readily available. Peesapaty is convinced that with enough volume, he can bring the cost down to the same as plastic cutlery. He has now launched a kickstarter to help fund his expansion. His original goal was $20,000 but in just the first 9 days he easily exceeded three times the target.

You can see his Kickstarter campaign here until April 17th which is when the project will be funded.