That's nice. I wonder what kind of plants they are planning to sprout. Those don't look like pineapple seedlings either in the article's photo or the company's drawing. I hope they're not distributing unidentified seedlings to places where whatever the plants are will get out of control. Or the drawings and photos really have nothing to do with the article, but they can't do an article or packaging without adding something wildly misleading? It doesn't make me feel like trusting the text. True, it's definitely the case that I'm using more than my share of paper cups - even though I take my cup to coffee place, they have to make it in their own cup and then I pour it into mine. That's today's COVID-19 world, though I do have one barista who makes the components in her materials and then pours them directly into my cup without touching my cup. That's pretty rare, though. I know I could stay home and make my own, but I don't like it as well, and my barista is the live familiar person I see in a day. I treasure those 10 seconds.
"We were not just designing a biodegradable plate. We wanted to go further and create a plate that generates life," cofounder Andres Benavides said. Well, well - a plate that generates life - who could ask for more? So gimicky; forget it if it adds to the cost of production - playing on the need of well-intentioned but uninformed people to do something useful. "A plate that generates life." Such a cynical marketing ploy. Give me a break.
Well, it's cute. Judging by the improbable pictures, we're probably missing something in the text too. Marketing meets newspaper reporting seems not to be such a good mix.
Give the Earth a break. Much more could---and should---be asked of us all in order to prevent the planet's suffocation in plastic waste. I for one am willing to pay a bit extra for products which will decompose into components conducive to life. Is the goal less desirable if the path to it is perceived by some to be 'gimicky'[sic]? I applaud any effort to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Trite slogan? Perhaps. Immaterial to its content, and irrelevant to its application. I believe this, and practice it. There is more inspiration to be found in sprouting seeds than in a plastic garbage bag full of plastic waste preserved for millennia in a landfill. Maybe, just maybe, these plates might give children---who will soon enough inherit the planet we have left them---the idea that there is an alternative to throwaway culture. That to me is worth a buck. Or two.
We already have readily available, cheap, compostable tableware that does not generate plastic microfibers: paper plates, cups, bowls, etc. I'd like to see all of these new "environmentally friendly" products compared with paper versions, because they will have to compete with them in the marketplace.
Who could disagree with your well-written advocacy of eliminating plastic? My skepticism focusses on the particular product you brought to our attention. Not every alternative to plastic is of equal merit and I think adding to production costs by impregnating dubious seeds into the plates or cups or whatever is over-reaching to say the least. Perhaps, as @vitog points out that all will have to compete in the marketplace, 'sprouting plates' will provide a competitive edge. Personally, I think it's just silly.
I really like the things that will rot down, especially the never ending coffee cups and fast food packaging strewn a cross the countryside that have been thrown out of car windows. You can't catch them all doing this, 'but I have tried'. There is very little respect for the environment around the world, this forum excluded in that comment btw. So the tiny percentage that are caught and prosecuted bares no resemblance to those that will hurl their waste from their cars and not be seen by a patrolling police car, so the idea of these cups decomposing is a good idea. But and there is always a but. What will the people who have no respect say when they throw their cups into the countryside. "It's ok it will rot down". And will any Act be amended to say that this is still depositing litter in a public place. !!?? But IMO millions of cups day after day will be forever an eyesore on and in our hedgerows, even if they rot down eventually. Thats my pet rant for the day done !!!
"These biodegradable plates made from pineapples will sprout if you plant them in soil." Now picture your hedgerows full of pineapple plants! :-)