Arts
Not just your food, but eat your cutlery too!
Have you ever been aghast at the scene after a big musical show or fun fair? An empty field strewn with discarded plastic spoons, forks, and other cutlery ? Chathuranga Kariawasam, the founder and CEO of Waffle Boy, has created edible cutlery to address the problem of single use plastic cutlery. 
Chathuranga has a Masters in entrepreneurship and started Waffle Boy in his mother’s kitchen in 2011. Creating new products is his passion, and you can tell from the large inventory of products, such as large spoon, large fork, dessert spoon stirrers as well as edible cups and much more, that he is always on the lookout for new ideas.
Waffle Boy started when Chathuranga saw how people would eat ice cream and then throw away the ice cream cone. Seeing that, he was moved to create tasty waffle cones. Then he noticed that when people wanted more than one scoop of ice cream, cups were used and discarded and he came up with waffle cups. Next came tasty edible waffle spoons.
Chathuranga Kariawasam
“Comparatively plastic cutlery is a greater environmental hazard than the bigger plastic, as it captures less interest even for recycling. That is why we should come out with a more sustainable solution for curtailing the use of plastic cutlery. The edible and eco cutlery was introduced to combat this problem and we are trying to offer it at an affordable price to cater to the entire market,” he says.
Thus Chathuranga then produced more cost effective cheaper spoons, using hard pressed moulds made with rice flour and wheat flour. These have a slightly sweet taste and are sturdy. Mixing your morning coffee with a spoon, the coffee seeps into it making it delicious to take a bite right out of it.
Each piece of cutlery costs between 6 to 8 rupees, but still unsatisfied, Chathuranga’s goal now is to use rice residue for his products. He has currently created cups that can be recycled easily. Adding some soil and a plant, it then becomes a flower pot.
To check out their basic cutlery or the more tasty waffle cone cutlery visit their store at 32, Pelawatta Rd, Nugegoda or call 077 876 7700 for more information.
A range of edible cutlery
Delicious bite: Your coffee-mixing spoon. Pix by Amila Gamage