That figure could soon skyrocket thanks to a decision by the European Union to ban plastic plates and cutlery starting in 2021. (Photo: AFP) Warsaw: Polish inventor and entrepreneur Jerzy Wysocki catches a brown plate, still warm, as it drops out of a machine and he begins to eat the crunchy, fibrous tableware. Biotrem distributes the plates in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. The research is already at a fairly advanced stage: the only thing left to do is to make the boxes more resistant to liquid and heat. The forks, spoons and knives are even safe for sea creatures to eat. But he says he is also driven by the desire to help a good cause, "because the amount of rubbish that pollutes oceans is huge and frightening. Also, it should be possible to harness the same technology to make plates out of corn, barley, oats, cassava and even algae.According to Robert Bajko, who sells the university&pvc plank flooring manufacturer39;s innovations to entrepreneurs, the cutlery does not require any complex technology or a huge investment.The sexagenarian invented the plate some 15 years ago, and today Biotrem makes around 15 million of them a year.Eco-conscious clientsBiotrem CEO Malgorzata Then acknowledges, of course, that at 15 euro cents (17 US cents) a pop or 20 percent more for exports, wheat bran plates are more expensive than their plastic counterparts."Now, with the measures taken by the EU, even clients who are uninformed about the environment are forced to take an interest in biodegradable products," Then said."With cassava, the first tests turned out really # well and we already have a small group of interested clients," Wysocki adds.

The Biotrem crew are not the only ones in Poland stepping up to the front line of the war on plastic.Biotrem is hoping to expand its offer to edible boxes for takeaway meals and catering. At first, the company targeted clients who were environmentally inclined as well as restaurants and hotels that wanted to offer something original.""To make the plates, we only use wheat bran, which we compress at a precise pressure point and temperature, using a machine made specifically for that purpose," he explains. It calls to mind dry cereal flakes or maybe what you would imagine cardboard to taste like. Anyone in the plastic industry can get started "overnight," he enthuses.You can have your plate and eat it too, says Polish inventor. Biodegradable plates, made of wheat bran and cassava were invented by a Polish scientist to reduce plastic waste.A son and grandson of millers, Wysocki got the idea for the tableware when he was looking to use up the leftovers of flour production, which take up a lot of space.But "the current price of plastic doesn't factor in the environmental cost, that of recycling and marine pollution," she adds. Researchers in the chemistry department of the Gdansk University of Technology have developed a way to make biodegradable cutlery out of potato starch. In favourable weather conditions, with a little humidity, wheat bran products decompose after a month, or even after two weeks if there is rain. The client Down Under had asked that they check whether earthworms would like the taste, they do."We are the only ones so far to have tested the biodegradability of our products on living aquatic organisms and it looks like this cutlery is safe for the environment," professor Helena Janik told AFP. But Wysocki says what matters is the tableware is biodegradable..The rosy outlook is backed by the prospect of greater output leading to a drop in the price. "These aren't huge amounts, but they're enough for us to be optimistic about the future," Wysocki says. Taking a bite, the plate does not have much of a flavour.Biodegradable cutleryYou do not have to eat the plate or its packaging to be a friend of the environment."A pork chop will always be more delicious on this wheat bran plate than on plastic," says Wysocki with a big grin at the Biotrem factory in Zambrow in northeast Poland.

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