--- title: Edible Cutlery description: Every year, humans waste billions of pieces of plastic flatware, which clog landfills and hurt the environment. So Indian startup Bakeys invented a line of... canonical: https://time.com/4327416/edible-cutlery/ author: Julie Shapiro article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-12T10:20:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:36:51.661Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Edible Cutlery og:description: Every year, humans waste billions of pieces of plastic flatware, which clog landfills and hurt the environment. So Indian startup Bakeys invented a line of... og:url: https://time.com/4327416/edible-cutlery/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0e8e280e9df0f17/698892d3428a9e33c0cd2967/edible-cutlery-from-bakeys-cuts-waste.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: edible-cutlery-from-bakeys-cuts-waste og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Edible Cutlery twitter:description: Every year, humans waste billions of pieces of plastic flatware, which clog landfills and hurt the environment. So Indian startup Bakeys invented a line of... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0e8e280e9df0f17/698892d3428a9e33c0cd2967/edible-cutlery-from-bakeys-cuts-waste.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Edible Cutlery  by [Julie Shapiro](https://time.com/author/julie-shapiro/)  ## Julie Shapiro May 12, 2016 10:20 AM UTC  Indian startup Bakeys makes edible cutlery to reduce landfill waste Indian startup Bakeys makes edible cutlery to reduce landfill wasteMichael Bucher for TIME  by [Julie Shapiro](https://time.com/author/julie-shapiro/)  ## Julie Shapiro May 12, 2016 10:20 AM UTC Every year, humans waste billions of pieces of plastic flatware, which clog landfills and hurt the environment. So Indian startup Bakeys invented a line of forks, spoons and chopsticks that can double as dessert. The cutlery, made from hearty sorghum flour, is baked until nearly all its moisture is gone, meaning it’s strong enough to handle hot soup. And it comes in three flavors: savory (like a cracker), sweet (like an ice cream cone) and plain (like a wafer), all of which have sold well in India. Now Bakeys is focused on new markets; it recently raised more than $278,000 on Kickstarter for a global expansion. For more on these ideas, visit time.com/ideas –Julie Shapiro ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4327416/edible-cutlery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4327416/edible-cutlery/"},"headline":"Edible Cutlery","datePublished":"2016-05-12T10:20:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:36:51.661Z","description":"Every year, humans waste billions of pieces of plastic flatware, which clog landfills and hurt the environment. So Indian startup Bakeys invented a line of...","url":"https://time.com/4327416/edible-cutlery/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0e8e280e9df0f17/698892d3428a9e33c0cd2967/edible-cutlery-from-bakeys-cuts-waste.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julie Shapiro","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/julie-shapiro/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0e8e280e9df0f17/698892d3428a9e33c0cd2967/edible-cutlery-from-bakeys-cuts-waste.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"edible-cutlery-from-bakeys-cuts-waste","caption":"Indian startup Bakeys makes edible cutlery to reduce landfill waste","creditText":"Michael Bucher for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4327416/edible-cutlery/","name":"Edible Cutlery"}}]}] ```