About

Food is eaten in a variety of ways around the world, and eating utensils also vary a lot around the world. The Chinese and other cultures in Asia eat their meals using chopsticks, while the cultures of Europe use cutlery, which is also known as silverware, tableware, or flatware. A typical set of cutlery consists of a knife, fork, spoon, and teaspoon. But a complete set of cutlery for an eight-course banquet can have over a dozen cutlery pieces, including a butter spreader, cocktail fork, soup spoon, dessert fork, dessert spoon, ice cream fork, as well as separate knives and forks for fish and meat, and so forth. Disposable cutlery is convenient and hygienic for when people eat outdoors, or where there is no place for washing up, for example at fast food restaurants, street food stalls, concerts and events, in aeroplanes and trains, at picnics, and so forth. But, plastic disposable cutlery is causing a big problem as most plastic is not recycled, instead it is thrown away into mountainous landfills, or it is discarded thoughtlessly to pollute the natural environment. Therefore, if we are to continue to enjoy our food using disposable cutlery, we must switch to using environmentally sustainable materials instead of plastic.
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Your task

Design a set of disposable cutlery that is made from environmentally sustainable materials. Choose an application for your disposable cutlery: it may be for a restaurant, for events like concerts, or for an airliner, and so forth. Therefore, take into account the meal type and design a cutlery set for that application. Your disposable cutlery set ought to be safe and comfortable in use. Consider, too, the environmental impact of the materials and processes used to manufacture the cutlery. Build a working model to test your disposable cutlery. Work on this project on your own, or together with a classmate.
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The design thinking stages

Follow the five design thinking stages to ensure that you think of everything and do everything necessary in order to succeed in your design project. First, you must UNDERSTAND the design topic and the needs of the users. With that understanding, you can DECIDE what is important to your design solution and what is not so important. Then you CREATE to come up with ideas and improve them. Then you BUILD your chosen design idea in a physical form and improve it through trial-and-error. Finally, you TEST your built design idea to get the opinions of users. Use the methods from the Design Thinking for Schools website as you follow the design thinking stages.
 

Note for teachers

​​​​​​​Read the guide for teachers on Safety for the BUILD Stage for Level III to safely supervise this design project.​​​​​