FAQs
To make it easy for you to learn about us and our products, we have collected the most common questions below. Please CONTACT US if anything remains unanswered!
Q: Can your wood cutlery be washed and reused?
A: Our wood cutlery is meant to be disposable and recommended for single use only.
Q: What means compostable?
A: Compostable means that a product can break down into natural materials like carbon dioxide, water, and biomass in about 90 days.
Q: Is disposable wood cutlery compostable?
Yes. Wood Cutlery can be composted in a home or backyard compost as well as in a commercial composting facility.
Q: Is compostable better than biodegradable?
A: Although compostable and biodegradable are often used interchangeably, they do not mean the same thing. Biodegradable means that a product can break down into natural materials in the environment without causing harm. The time frame can be months to years. Compostable, on the other hand, means that a product can break down into natural materials in about 90 days.
Q: Is compostable plastic cutlery (PLA's etc) really compostable?
A: There are many different compostable plastics on the market and the answer would be different for each one. The short answer is: what looks like plastic is treated like plastic. Compostable plastics only compost in commercial facilities. Unfortunately, many commercial composters tend to sort out every item that looks like plastic. That means if it looks like plastic, the cutlery will end up in the landfill where it can take hundreds of years to degrade.
Q: Is compostable plastic a better choice than plastic?
A: When confronted with an environmental crisis, there is always a steep learning curve before we get a grip of the problem. Although a step in the right direction, "compostable plastics" do not actually compost in a natural setting. Because they look like plastic they sometimes end up in the recycling bin and recyclers have to sort them out. Because of the same assumption, composters sort them out as well. So, no matter where they get discarded in most cases they will end up in the landfill where they might take the same amount of time to degrade like plastic. If they are still a better option than plastic is up to the consumer, but they are clearly not a truly sustainable alternative to single use plastic.
Q: How long does it take for wood cutlery/plastic cutlery/compostable plastic cutlery to degrade in a landfill?
A: Currently, there is no study that confirms an exact timeframe for wood cutlery to degrade in a landfill. Since landfills are designed for waste to degrade much slower than in a natural setting, it will take longer though, that in your backyard compost!
As a natural product our birch cutlery can be compared to food waste. Food waste is estimated to decompose within 6-24 months in a landfill.
Plastic might take anywhere from 10-100 years in a landfill. So called "compostable plastics" do not easily degrade in a natural setting and it is safe to assume the time for them to degrade in a landfill is closer to that of plastic, than that of wood cutlery.
Q: Why is wood cutlery more sustainable than compostable plastic cutlery?
A: To truely answer this we need to look at a variety of aspects. From the raw materials used over the manufacturing process to what happens after they are discarded. Please read our blog post on How Sustainable Are Plastic Cutlery Alternatives?
Q: Does using wood cutlery harm tree populations?
A: It is a common misunderstanding that wood products harm tree populations. Wood is one of the most sustainable materials that can be used. It absorbs CO2 while it is growing and creates habitats for wildlife. It is important though to only use raw materials from responsibly managed forests like Foodstiks does.
Q: How much wood is needed to make the cutlery?
A: The manufacturing process for our wood cutlery is very efficient. One tree the size of a telephone pole can produce up to 20,000 pieces of cutlery.
