Green Smart Picnics (GSP)

We have added environmentally and biodegradable food service materials that is both safe for the environment and landfills. By keeping our earth free from harmful materials that fill our landfills with non-degradable materials year after year we will help by doing our part with our biodegradable system. We use disposable earth-friendly products for your picnic and food service needs. We started "Green Smart Picnics" (GSP) to help all individuals, businesses, and organizations become green consumers. Our food service products are important because it allows us to ...

• Reduce or replace the use of products made from petroleum based materials such as Styrofoam and plastic.
• Explore opportunities to reduce their waste by composting
• Dispose of products into a landfill that will break down into safe, Earth-Friendly elements
• Our mission is to encourage all consumers to use food service supplies made from petroleum-free, tree-free, and chemical-free materials

Most of the products that we use are made from Sugar Cane Bagasse of PLT. This page provides a brief overview about these materials.

This material is like a thick paper with high performance qualities. For example, one might compare the thickness of our plates to the high quality Chinet branded plates made from trees.

Sugar Cane Bagasse:

Bagasse (sometimes spelled bagass) is the biomass remaining after sugarcane stalks are crushed to extract their juice. (Wikipedia) As recently as 1993, Bagasse was essentially a waste product that causes sugar mills to incur additional disposal costs.

In tropical regions of the world sugar cane represents a major crop. Because of the increasing demand for sugar in the last century, large areas in the tropical and subtropical countries all around the world were allotted for sugar cane crops, lower level of maintenance and good productivity made sugar cane an attractive crop for farmers in there regions. Most of the high sucrose verities are fully ripened and ready for harvest when they are 10 to 15 months old. Accordingly, sugar cane bagasse is very much an annually renewable resource.

Once harvested, sugarcane is crushed in a series of mills, each consisting of at least three heavy rollers. Due to the crushing, the cane stalk will break in small pieces, and subsequent milling will squeeze the juice out. The juice is collected and processed for production of sugar. The resulting crushed and squeezed cane stalk, is bagasse.

Further, in some factories around the world, the sludge left over after removing the cellulose fibers in creating bagasse, is used to power the actual paper-,ills. The resulting CO2 emissions in burning bagasse are equal to the amount of CO2 that the sugarcane plant used up from the atmosphere during its growing phase. Consequently, the resulting heat from this process appears to be greenhouse gas-neutral.

Green Picnics is the wave of the future and we are here to bring it to you. Keeping our earth healthy and clean is what we intend to do at all summer picnics. From biodegradable plates, utensils, and recycling cans, bottles, and all plastics. Even all of our games are environmentally safe and do not harm the grass or nature in any way.

A friendly reminder to our clients. Picnic Planners along with its catering and venue partners continue to improve their recycling efforts to be "Green" at all events. From starch based utensils and plates to bottle and can recycling, Picnic Planners hopes to make a difference for the future of our earth. Please join us in helping to make a positive difference in the environment.

Are the plates , bowls and take-out boxes sturdy?

Yes, The Bagasse tableware is thicker and more rigid in service than paper plates or bowls, and the take-out boxes are suitable for serving hot, wet or oily foods.

Can I use these biodegradable plates, bowls and cups for hot oily or wet foods?

Yes, absolutely. In fact, their thickness means that they have ideal thermal properties for hot, wet or oily foods.

Can I heat food in a microwave on a compostable plate or bowl or in the take-out boxes?

Yes, though this is only advised for 2-3 minutes.

How long will compostable plates, cups, and bowls take to break down?

These items break down in a few months in domestic compost conditions. When immersed in water at room temperature, disintegration takes 1 week. At the present time, the tableware has not been certified under any of the international standards discussed in our end-of-life FAQ.

Where's the catch?

No catch - this is great stuff. The plates are rigid enough that you can load them with food, and still hold one-handed to one edge. They are biodegradable, and completely suitable for composting