Chehak Bhandari, Jessica Phua Shu Xin, Ming Yifan, Ng Siu Hian, Ye Yuxiang
Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng
The improper disposal of huge amounts of plastic waste has caused serious environmental issues around the world. Disposable plastic cutlery, one of the sources of plastic waste, has significant negative impacts on marine wildlife, because disposed plastic cutlery in the ocean is frequently ingested by marine animals, which can cause their death (Wilcox et al., 2016). Disposable cutlery is widely used because of its convenience and low cost, and consumers usually do not have another option apart from plastic cutlery when taking away food. Our project thus aims to promote edible cutlery as an alternative to plastic cutlery within Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) and test students’ receptivity to it. To achieve this, we came up with our own recipe for edible cutlery, and there were a total of three rounds of testing. In the first two tests, we examined the edible cutlery we made in terms of usability, taste, and quality, and we also invited our friends to try our cutlery. Based on the feedback we collected, we made our third batch with two flavours, Italian herbs and vanilla. We then brought the cutlery to students in the dining hall and conducted a post-survey to collect their feedback. The results of our post-survey shows that students were generally receptive towards our edible cutlery and more than half of them were willing to continue to use it. They also gave valuable suggestions on how to improve them. Looking forward, we could implement our project throughout NUS.
Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Food waste, Food