That plastic fork you’re using to chow down your Chow Mein will be lasting longer than the yummy noodles – much longer. Plastics are a petroleum based product, which means not only are they not biodegradable, but also they remain in the environment for hundreds to thousands of years.

As a result, eventhough your lunch will be gone in 20 minutes, that one-time-use fork will see its 500th birthday.

Next time, avoid using plastic forks and instead, use Spudware! Spudware is a new kind of “plastic” cutlery made from 80% potato starch and 20% soy oil that can biodegrade in 180 days under the proper conditions.

However, Spudware will not breakdown in your average backyard compost pile. Starch-based products need a commercial composting facility, since they require high temperatures in order to properly degrade. Commercial composting facilities provide an ideal environment for a full and speedy composting process (beyond the capacity of backyard composting systems) by properly maintaining conditions conducive to Spudware decomposition.

Commercial facilities do so by regulating temperature, which remains between 105° and 145°F, airflow, moisture content and mixture balance so that nitrogen and carbon levels remain ideal.

Several cities nationwide, including Berkeley and San Francisco, provide commercial composting facilities capable of handling Spudware (and, consequentially, helping to significantly reduce landfill space).

Therefore, individuals in these communities benefit significantly from using Spudware instead of plastic cutlery. These fabulous fork alternatives are available wholesale from a number of California-based distributors, such as:

Green Earth Office Supply
Green Home
Treecycle
World Centric Eco Store
Berkeley Natural Grocery Co., 1336 Gilman St., Berkeley
El Cerrito Natural Grocery Co., 10367 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito Rainbow Grocery, 1745 Folsom St., San Francisco.

When you purchase SpudWare, make sure it comes with a Certification of Compostability from the American Society of Testing and Materials.

Andrea Hart is a Sustainability Analyst at BlueMap Inc., a research firm focused on the quantification of sustainability decisions and clean tech investments for our clients. BlueMap Inc. specializes in creating profitable and innovative environmental impact reduction strategies for our clients. BlueMap's advantage is its focus on quantitative analysis to prove which strategies concurrently lower overall costs as well as environmental impact.