Palm Plates - Opinion Phase 1

MarxFoods sent a box of "Palm Plates" for me to try and give my opinion on.  I could do tell you that these are disposable, biodegradable, made from palm leaves and are great for those of us who are Eco conscious, but that wouldn't be a totally fair review.  So I've decided to give my review and opinion in phases.  In this first phase I'll tell you about "Palm Plates" and give you a couple of sites that you can go to and read the claims for yourself.  Also in this phase I'll show you a plate and tell you about my 1st step of usage.  So here goes Phase 1 starting with "How the Palm Plates are Made."

1.  Freshly fallen, naturally discarded sheaths of the leaves of the Adaka palm tree are collected.  To be clear, these are not pulled off the tree, nor are any trees cut down, as this is a non-timber forest resource.  The trees naturally shed their old leaves, which are then picked up and put to good use.
2.  Each raw sheath is then rinsed with water to remove any clinging dirt.  It is then hand washed in a natural mixture of water and turmeric. The leaves are then rinsed a third time in water.
3.  Once clean, the palm sheaths naturally air dry.
4.  The palm leaves are then hand stretched and flattened. Various plate profiles, including round, square and hexagon-shaped dinner plates, are molded using a heated press.  Multiple plates (of differing shapes and sizes) are often cut from each leaf in order to reduce waste.
5.  Once clean and cut, each plate is sun-dried and packaged in groups of 25, which is how they’re delivered to you.

In this picture, I tested the plates with a salad.  It was sturdy, the dressing didn't soak in, the fork didn't pierce the plate, I was actually able to use a knife to cut up my lettuce when needed.  And to complete the test of Phase 1 I rinsed the plate off and found that you could actually reuse it for another dish, cutting down on disposable dishes.

In Phase 2 I'll see how it holds up with lasagna.
For more info go to MarxFood