In South Africa, a startup has created edible bowls to reduce plastic waste. Munch Bowls, founded by Georgina de Kock in 2014, sells bowls made from wheat that can be eaten at the end of your meal or composted.
de Kock was inspired to create the bowls after seeing how much plastic waste is used by street food vendors. “I was looking around and just noticing all the rubble that is created by us humans, and it really started irritating me,” de Kock tells CNN. “If you take a taco, if you take a wrap, anything like that, you can eat it, it adds value to your food.”
Munch Bowls can churn out 500 bowls per hour, and has recorded sales in South Africa, Belgium, Singapore, and Dubai. In addition to wheat, the bowls include natural preservative rooibos extract and are available in savory and sweet flavors. The bowls are also hearty, lasting up to 15 months on a shelf and able to hold hot foods for five hours.
De Kock aims to add spoons, coffee cups and containers for in-flight meals to production by the end of 2020.