NAMAR is a newly launched brand whose aim is to make cutlery more sustainable and to reduce the amount of waste produced by disposable plastic utensils.
NAMAR founders Margie Stein and Nataly Neuman first noticed the severity of the issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. With more restaurants than ever before offering takeout and delivery, it was becoming the norm to include plastic utensils with every order.
Conversely, some restaurant patrons who were hesitant to trust that the eatery’s silverware had been adequately sanitized would bring their own plastic utensils to be discarded shortly after they ate their meal on the outdoor patio. Stein and Neuman also noticed that in addition to the uptick in usage of plastic cutlery, was the amount of litter that came with it, with plastic forks and knives strewn throughout the streets and parks in their neighbourhood.
In an effort to combat this major issue, the idea for NAMAR was born. The two founders have created a reusable cutlery set, perfect for anyone on-the-go. While the fact that it’s reusable inherently makes it more sustainable than its disposable counterparts, each NAMAR cutlery set has a whole host of other eco-friendly credentials. Made out of 100% natural wheat straw, the sets are fully recyclable, vegan, compostable, and biodegradable. NAMAR specifically uses wheat straw that is grown without chemicals and chose this ingredient because not only is it durable, but it transfers nutrients back into the soil when it decomposes.
Further, those with gluten allergies will be pleased to learn that the cutlery sets are also gluten-free, as NAMAR uses only the stalks of the wheat plant, not the grains which are what contains gluten.
Finally, NAMAR’s sets are entirely portable, which makes them easy to carry around in your purse or even your back pocket (in fact, the founders say they tested each set to ensure they could easily slide into your back pocket). They are ideally suited to when you know you’ll be eating outdoors or at work, but can be used anywhere anytime. NAMAR’s reusable cutlery sets currently come in four colours: pink skies, purple fields, seafoam green, and sand dune nude.
Each NAMAR cutlery set retails for $12 USD and includes a wheat straw fork, spoon, two chopsticks, and the sleek carrying case.
All of NAMAR’s trendy and sustainable cutlery sets are available on shopnamar.com and are shipped within the United States and Canada. A portion of every sale is donated towards Feeding America.
All images in this article are courtesy of NAMAR.
