Chopsticks form an important part of authentic Asian cuisine. However the way it is being manufactured and used since a few decades is worrisome, you know why- coz it is made out of bamboo or wood.

Similar to the case of single-use plastic cutlery, chopsticks offered across the globe by restaurants are single use in nature and this frequency of use, translates to massive deforestation.

You’ll be surprised to know that The Chinese government began charging a 5 percent tax in 2006 on disposable chopsticks export in efforts to curb deforestation. Their goal is to use high prices to drive people towards reusable utensils such as washable plastic or metal chopsticks.

It is clear that the global production of disposable chopsticks is unsustainable, as millions of trees are utilized annually, only to be thrown away after use. The carbon that was stored in the tree is released when chopsticks degrade in a landfill.

Almost a third of the world’s population uses chopsticks every day, with China alone producing as many as 80 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks a year according to some estimates. And that’s just one product out of millions.

Felix Böck, who has a background in wood engineering in Germany, was studying for a PhD in structural bamboo composites in Vancouver when inspiration struck as he was eating his favourite meal - sushi.

Since 2016, Felix Böck’s company ChopValue has been taking used bamboo chopsticks from restaurants in Canada and the US, and transforming them into attractive wooden tiles which are used in a range of furniture and homewares.

The process behind ChopValue is ingeniously simple. The company urges restaurants to keep their used bamboo chopsticks, which it then collects, dries and compresses in a hydraulic press. The result is a dense, uniform material of about 15 mm thickness, made using the 350,000 chopsticks which pour in per week. ChopValue’s bamboo products have similar properties to engineered bamboo products on the market, including hardness, good surface performance and high tensile strength. But it’s the eye-catching aesthetics which many of ChopValue’s clients find most interesting.

Tune into the episode to hear more about ChopValue.

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