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We want to be as transparent with our customers as possible. That’s why we decided to outline the entire production process of making our sturdy, elegant, and eco-friendly areca palm leaf plates. If you would like to get more information or have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Our team is looking forward to hearing from you.

The Manufacturing Process

1. Leaf Collection Long before you’re eating from Eko Future plates, we are collecting the freshly fallen, naturally discarded areca palm leaves to start the process of production. Each palm tree naturally sheds 1-2 leaves per month that are then picked up and put to good use. It is important to note, that unlike other disposables such as bamboo, wooden, or paper plates, these leaves are not pulled off from the palm trees, nor are any trees are cut down or damaged in any way.

2. Washing Once we’ve collected the palm leaves and delivered them to the factory, we thoroughly wash each raw leaf with high pressure in order to remove any dirt. After that, the leaves are hand washed in a natural mixture of water and turmeric. Finally, the palm leaves are rinsed a third time in water. Please Note: No chemicals are used in the cleaning process!

3. Moisture Once the leaves are clean, we let them naturally air dry by sitting for around 1-2 hours inside the factory before moving to the next step.

4. Heat This is the step where the leaves start to become Eko Future plates! The palm leaves are hand stretched and flattened. After that, various shapes, including round, square and oval plates are formed using a heated press. In order to reduce waste, we often try to cut a few plates of different shapes and sizes from each leaf.

5. Trim Next, we trim the edges of each plate. During this process, the plates are placed next to the trimming machine and steadily moved around each side in order to remove any jagged edges. As a result, we get very smooth and elegant dinnerware.

6. Surface brush Besides the edges being smooth, we always make sure that the surface of the plates is also perfectly smooth. Using specially made hand brushes we gently brush the surface of each plate to remove any possible leftovers of dirt (remember it is a natural product!) and make sure that the finish look is extra smooth and clean.

7. Dust removal Once the edges and surfaces of each palm leaf plate are smoothed, we remove dust leftovers using cotton or woolen fabric.

8. Into the oven! After that, we put the plates into the oven, for about 8 – 10 hours at 70°C (158° F) in order to remove the remaining moisture and possible bacteria.

9. Thorough quality control Almost there now! This step is one of the most important. We thoroughly check the quality of every single plate and remove the ones that do not meet our standards and our customers’ expectations. We are getting rid of damaged and moldy plates, making sure that only the best plates get into the packaging process.

10. Packaging Finally, the plates are placed into stacks and packed into our branded packaging that are then delivered to your door!