Coffee residue tray Hong Kong students "skillfully" change kitchen waste into cutlery

According to Hong Kong media reports, students of the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology of higher Education have used their ingenuity to turn banana leaves into spoons and coffee grounds into bread trays. By "upgrading and recycling" kitchen waste, it can not only reduce food waste, but also reduce waste from the source and solve the problem of disposable tableware.

According to the report, the environmental protection spoon made from banana leaves was conceived by Chen Shixian and Wu Mingkang, first-year students in the Department of Design of the School of Environment and Design of the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology of higher Education. Chen Shixian said that the texture of banana leaves is relatively soft. When making banana leaves, rice pulp is used to paste multiple banana leaves to enhance the supporting force, and then a mold made by 3D printing technology is used to cut the banana leaves into the shape of "Sichuan" and fold them into the shape of spoon soup.

The appearance of a banana leaf spoon is no different from that of an ordinary spoon, but there are gaps in the cutting and folding position. "A small column of water may slowly leak out in the soup." Chen Shixian said that products do not need complex technology or expensive materials, can replace difficult to decompose plastic disposable tableware, to achieve the effect of reducing waste from the source.

Cheng Kwun-ping, Lam Songli and Wan Zifeng, senior students of the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology of higher Education, use coffee grounds and recycled filter paper as raw materials and use traditional paper pressing technology to make paper utensils such as bags or trays. Zheng Guanping said that coffee grounds have the effect of moisture absorption and deodorization, and containers are made to store bread, which can help keep dry and prolong the storage time.

At the end of last year, five students from the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology of higher Education took part in the "Food Tour" design competition organised by the environmental group "good Food". They were awarded outstanding design awards in the junior and senior groups respectively. Qi Yizhen, associate professor in the Department of Design of the School of Environment and Design of the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology of higher Education, revealed that environmentally friendly tableware made of banana leaves and coffee grounds has attracted the attention of a large aviation tableware manufacturer, and the two sides will start negotiations, which are expected to be mass produced in the future. and put it on the market.