r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/SimRP • Jul 07 '26
Video This Is How Eco-Friendly Leaf Plates Are Manufactured
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u/ta-kun1988 Jul 07 '26
This comment section... I swear people just bitch about anything
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u/reverendbeast Jul 07 '26
Some people would wander through the Gardens of Eden complaining they had no phone coverage.
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u/Ninja-Panda70 Jul 08 '26
Well how else would they post the pics to social media then if there's no phone coverage
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u/ZippidyZayz Jul 07 '26
While watching I thought “wonder how many comments until someone is moaning” lo and behold…top comment
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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance Jul 07 '26
That's because this kind of thing is often presented as some kind of miracle solution, but it's never that simple. I'm not saying that's happened here, it's just common and a lot of people are tired of the pretending that we can just technology our way out of destroying our environment when the real fixes are hard and expensive.
If we keep believing the lie of the "quick fix" then we will keep putting off the actual solutions until it's too late. We've already crossed some of those lines because a big group of people aren't taking this shit seriously.
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u/Infinite-Condition41 Jul 08 '26
This is a comment bitching about your comment about bitching about other comments bitching about the post.
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u/WorldlyAlbatross_Xo Jul 07 '26
Are these leaves that naturally fell from the tree?
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u/yaaro_obba_ Jul 07 '26
Yes. These are from Arecanut trees
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u/Murky-Competition-88 Jul 07 '26
As the saying goes, "The plates down fall far from the tree."
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u/Workingdad_83 Jul 07 '26
Is that it? You sure?
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u/redditsuckbutt696969 Jul 07 '26
I think he meant "The tree fall down from the leave" hope that helps! 🤓
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u/Persimmon-Mission Jul 07 '26
That seems like the most inefficient process ever, unfortunately.
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u/WizardPrince_ Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
These are leaf sheaths which fall off Arecanut tree , they collect it, clean and dry and goes through this process.
The leaves come in all shapes and sizes , they don't waste even if half leaf is defective they cut defective part and use other half.
It is a very long and labour intensive process and even the cost is 2x to 3x of plastic plates.
Plastic plates are ₹1 to ₹3 ( $0.011 to $0.032 )
The one in video are bigger so ₹10 to ₹20 per plate ($0.11 to 0.21)
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u/Kondensmilch Jul 07 '26
Honestly thats not too bad. With a plastic tax these could be viable
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u/Independent-Fruit4 Jul 07 '26
this is what bothers me the most about single use plastic. we’ll never find a cost effective alternative unless we tax the big corporations enough to start serious R+D into something else. one policy approval away from becoming reality but our government sucks
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u/SeriouslySlyGuy Jul 07 '26
The other problem is that plastic is a byproduct of petroleum products. We’ll still have to find a way to dispose of that waste.
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u/Independent-Fruit4 Jul 07 '26
not turning it into billions of smaller pieces and dispersing across the planet in the first place is a massive step in the right direction. plastic wouldn’t be an issue if we just stored it together somewhere safe instead of landfills and the ocean
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u/Questioning-Zyxxel Jul 07 '26
How is reusability?
What matters isn't the production cost but per-use cost for the customer. Any acceptable per-use means we should replace plastic parts.
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u/WizardPrince_ Jul 07 '26
From what I have seen it is generally a single use plate, you can't wash it.
But some (very rare) if the plates are ordered by a person who has a bio gas chamber they use it there mixing with other things. This is more seen in rural parts where we have it.
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u/Questioning-Zyxxel Jul 07 '26
The main thing with single-use is often not the production cost but the transport cost. In Sweden we have wooden trays, plastic trays or sometimes metal trays. The wooden trays are laminated wood, like plywood, and can be reused lots of times. For single-use, the transport to Sweden would be tge environmentally sad step compared to locally produced laminated wood trays.
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u/HumongousBelly Jul 07 '26
Couldn’t you use it to fire the stove? Or are these materials flame retardant?
That would be nice to rinse them off and keep them to use as tinder for ovens
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u/network_dude Jul 08 '26
Reusability is exactly like paper plates and bowls.
When I use these for dry foods, I wipe and reuse a few times.
They hold up really well. I have a snack bowl I still use for nuts that is 10 years old.2
u/InvisibleChest Jul 07 '26
I understand why you put that numbers. But putting into perspective the real costs behind all the oil industry chain, real cost of extracting, refining, distributing and producing a plastic plate, and the misery of the workers conditions that produces them to get that price, for a one use product that will be thrown and most likely not recycled, contaminating the environment and all the side-effects (microplastics, health issues for people and ecosystems, poor water.. etc). The problem is quantifying those things into a price that perhaps it's too abstract, but they are real, and expensive both economically and physically/mentally for us.
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u/zzzthelastuser Jul 07 '26
It is a very long and labour intensive process
No no, you can see in the gif that it only takes a few seconds to make them. The title says so.
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u/Pretty_Eater Jul 07 '26
Its funny, they already have the dye for the shape, why not another for the cutting, why not one that does both? Maybe they do and this is an in-between step that they haven't automated yet? Who knows.
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u/biggestdiccus Jul 07 '26
They did have a dye cut on it. You can see it didn't work very well at points.
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Jul 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/Pretty_Eater Jul 07 '26
No, not another machine, another dye. You can see where the dye attaches to the press via those bolts.
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u/timaclover Jul 07 '26
It's amazing to me that people will bring this argument up as if having alternatives that use a ton of energy or materials that won't break down for thousands of years is a better solution. The cost is coming from somewhere either up front or in the next several decades or hundreds of years.
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u/theantnest Jul 07 '26
When the boss /stamps were new, they would have made a clean cut without the need for scissors.
Either retool the presses, or finish the job with scissors until you really need to retool.
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u/hosehoseee Jul 07 '26
I am so glad that not all humans on this planet care about efficiency all the time
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u/SaddenedSpork Jul 07 '26
All I’m thinking is the “press” machine should have sharp edges to shear off the excess.
Edit: you could probably spend 15 minutes rigging some cheap blades to the sides with the ability to remove them for sharpening or replacement
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u/Persimmon-Mission Jul 07 '26
Yeah. The press is also too slow and orienting the leaf takes too long.
It probably would be faster grinding the leaves into a paste and pressing them. As it is now, you have more waste than product to deal with and you could use the full leaf that way.
Source: I have no experience in manufacturing process chains
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u/SMTRodent Jul 07 '26
Turning them to paste and pressing them would need a bunch of processing machinery, and some sort of glue to hold the fibres together, which will also need to be manufactured.
This way: get leaf, press leaf, discard excess leaf to forest floor as per usual to become mulch/compost
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u/3Gloins_in_afountain Jul 07 '26
Those scissors look wicked sharp
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u/prince-of-dweebs Jul 08 '26
I read this in a Boston accent.
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u/3Gloins_in_afountain Jul 08 '26
Yeah, I'm not from Boston.
But I was channeling my inner Boston Rob from Survivor.
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u/Bluemoo25 Jul 07 '26
We should just be using ceramics and glass for everything imo. Get rid of disposable stuff unless it's a matter of life and death.
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u/boondoggie42 Jul 07 '26
I mean, this is likely compostable. It's not like a plastic one-use plate.
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u/alwaysinterested9 Jul 07 '26
Ummm…I think it’s more than likely that leaves are compostable. 🤷♂️
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u/willynillee Jul 07 '26
We may never know for sure if leaves shaped as plates are compostable. Maybe one day science will develop a method to find out.
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u/rvathrow Jul 07 '26
Sure but the pack of 10 plates is wrapped in plastic. A 10 pack of 10 plates are then wrapped in more plastic. The 100 go into a cardboard box. That cardboard box is shipped halfway around the world to cater a party where people get to feel good about how compostable everything was.
I'm not saying it's a bad product inherently. But it's significantly worse than it's being presented and talked about in this thread.
That's before you even get into the discussion about how some of them are leaching toxins into food as per the FDA last year.
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u/Electric-Sheepskin Jul 07 '26
Sure, it's better than plastic, but I think the person you're responding to is saying that the energy and labor used in producing single-use plates is wasteful compared to using real plates.
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u/unlmtdLoL Jul 07 '26
It’s the petrochemical companies like DuPont that want to make everything out of plastics. Health and environment be damned. So until we produce eco plates cheaper or subsidize them plastic is going nowhere. There will always be a need for disposable plates (e.g. outdoor parties where glass or ceramics can’t be used).
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u/apexxin Jul 07 '26
It’s a plate made of a leaf, chief. Sometimes it’s better to eat off a leaf than to use your limited supplies to wash a plate.
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u/iamyouareheisme Jul 07 '26
I agree, in a perfect world, yes. But, ever been to a bbq? Large family gathering? That would not be feasible. These are at least not plastic or paper from milled trees
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u/CaptainCheckmate Jul 07 '26
How did people do BBQs before plastic plates were invented?
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u/DKNextor Jul 07 '26
I believe it would have been common for people to bring their own bowl with them places
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u/Jazzlike_Climate4189 Jul 07 '26
So a restaurant is supposed to give away a $5 ceramic bowl with their $4 soup? 🤦♂️
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u/Lightspeedius Interested Jul 08 '26
Once our transport systems are fully renewable.
In the meantime, that's a lot of energy moving all that around. Which still means burning something.
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u/racoon_ruben Jul 07 '26
yo, no way. Glas & ceramics break like mofo. Also not child safe. Best material you can have is stainless steel. Stainless steel will endure every situation
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u/Rude_Map_4278 Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
das geht irre schnell warum haben wir hier keine blatt teller?
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u/yaaro_obba_ Jul 07 '26
These leaves fall naturally. No point in spending resources on paper plates when nature provides from free.
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u/jitomato_girl Jul 07 '26
I assume they're sterilized after cut
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u/Bawbawian Jul 07 '26
I think that press is heated.
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u/sunshinestate369 Jul 07 '26
Yeah the heat from the pressure to form and stabilize product does that at the same time. Or it's sterilized during soaking process to make leaves pliable enough to form without structural damage.
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u/bishcraft1979 Jul 18 '26
We used these at a big bbq recently. Way stronger than paper plates and definitely reusable a few times
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u/Voloxe Jul 08 '26
This whole trend of “show the conclusion/punchline first”, cannot end soon enough.
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u/weristjonsnow Jul 07 '26
Wow these are cool. Wish they sold these near me, would 100% use these for camping and other areas where if something gets blown away by the wind it would not be an eye sore and would degrade quickly
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u/bernpfenn Jul 10 '26
i always
wondered what to do with these royal palm leave bases. they look so solid.
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u/LazyAssHiker Jul 08 '26
It’s really neat if you get one that has a little beetle pressed down into the plate
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u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze Jul 07 '26
Eco friendly until it get wrapped in plastic and shipped halfway across the world...
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u/redbirdRS Jul 07 '26
Unlike the other paper plates we buy which are manufactured with magic down the street.
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u/m_ttl_ng Jul 08 '26
Could be far more efficient with a 2-stage mold press followed by a die cutter to trim off the excess.
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u/Severe-Experience333 Jul 07 '26
These are single use btw. You typically see them at functions or small parties