Given those garden-party disappointments, my colleagues and I wondered if any utensil sets (consisting of forks, knives, and spoons) are worth purchasing. First, we identified the top-selling, nationally available utensil brands based on sales data from IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm, and purchased each brand’s best-selling set. All the utensils in these sets were made from plastic, but when doing our research, we learned of a few single-use utensil sets made from plant-based materials and marketed as being eco-friendly. We were curious to see how they would compare with plastic versions, so we included three: one made from bamboo and two made from crystallized polylactic acid (CPLA), a commercially compostable material derived from corn, sugarcane, potatoes, tapioca, or soy protein. (See “Are Compostable Utensils Really Better for the Environment?” for more information about how to compost plant-based utensils.)
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