Review: Palm Leaf Plates

As consumers become more concerned about the environmental repercussions of the products which they buy, more and more companies are releasing “Green” products that tout their eco-friendly qualities. One example of this are the Palm Leaf Plates made by Marx Foods. So when I was given the opportunity to review these plates, I was glad to take them up on it – not only was I curious to see how environmentally friendly they really are, but I also welcomed the opportunity to take a day off from doing dishes!

The Palm Leaf line is a collection of disposable dinnerware that offer an alternative to paper plates. I did some searching on the topic, but there is not much information available on palm leaf products. So here is the manufacturing information from this page on the Marx Foods website:

“The construction of our Palm Leaf Plates is a natural, renewable, and simple process:

1. Freshly fallen, naturally discarded sheaths of the leaves of the Adaka palm tree are collected. To be clear, these are not pulled off the tree, nor are any trees cut down, as this is a non-timber forest resource. The trees naturally shed their old leaves, which are then picked up and put to good use.

2. Each raw sheath is then rinsed with water to remove any clinging dirt. It is then hand washed in a natural mixture of water and turmeric. The leaves are then rinsed a third time in water.

3. Once clean, the palm sheaths naturally air dry.

4. The palm leaves are then hand stretched and flattened. Various plate profiles, including round, square and hexagon-shaped dinner plates, are molded using a heated press. Multiple plates (of differing shapes and sizes) are often cut from each leaf in order to reduce waste.

5. Once clean and cut, each plate is sun-dried and packaged in groups of 25, which is how they’re delivered to you.”

It sounds great on paper – using an available resource to create a biodegradable product. Last year, I did some research on dinnerware made from corn plastic for an article I was writing for LifeScript, and what stood out to me was a lack of easy alternatives to normal disposable partyware; although you can buy disposable cutlery made from corn plastic, not all types will biodegrade in a traditional landfill, with some varieties requiring special processing plants to be recycled. However, since there is not a lot of information out there on palm leaf products, it was time to put it to the test and do a few experiments of my own.

Test #1: Durability. Marx Foods urged me to use the heaviest, greasiest foods to test these out, so I made a batch of my favorite garlic chicken and roast potatoes. I set the table with two Rectangle Palm Leaf Plates and dished up dinner. Although the plates seemed a little small, I was surprised at how much food actually fit on them.

I have to say, these are truly the best disposable plates I have ever used. You know how grease will soak through paper plates? And your knife will rip a hole in the plate? None of that happened here. Ironically enough, Jai’s dinner knife actually snapped in half while we were eating – disposable plates: 1. Real cutlery: 0.

I actually felt kind of bad throwing these away, since they were so durable, I probably could have washed them off and re-used them. But I had to toss them in order to conduct my next experiment:

Test #2: Composting. There is no solid information available on the amount of time these plates will take to compost; Marx Foods say that since these plates are literally a leaf, they should compost at a natural rate alongside other foliage. I’d like to see it for myself, so I tossed these in the yard and am watching to see what happens. I plan on posting an update here so that my readers can see the progress and time frame for the decomposition of the palm leaf material.

Bottom line? As a disposable plate, this ranks head and shoulders among any others that I have used. As an environmentally-friendly option, I love the concept but am eager to see more independent research and facts about the manufacture of these type of products – there’s a lot to weigh up when determining the true “Green” value of an item, including the plants they are processed in, resources used in transportation of the product, affect of the industry on the local eco-system, and so on. But the concept is exciting and would seem to hold great potential. The main downside I would see for the consumer would be the price – at $30.75 for 25 plates, many will likely find the cost to be prohibitive. But for some, this could be an instance where the value is worth the price.