Biodegradable cutlery points to a new direction as UAE reaches a fork in the road with single-use plastic ban

Emirati entrepreneur's eco-friendly alternative uses discarded date-palm leaves - and now makes more than 70,000 pieces a day

Lamis Al Hashimy’s company, Palmade, manufactures more than 70,000 pieces of environmentally friendly cutlery a day. Photo: Lamis Al Hashimy

An Emirati entrepreneur believes her business can step up and provide biodegradable alternatives to the single-use plastics banned under a nationwide initiative.

Lamis Al Hashimy has built a business around biodegradable products made from discarded date-palm leaves, making eco-friendly disposable cutlery at a factory in Dubai Investment Park. Her company, Palmade, has increased production from about 10,000 units every two weeks at the time of its launch, to more than 70,000 pieces of cutlery a day.

Palmade now serves more than 200 hotels and restaurants across the UAE and Ms Al Hashimy is keen to position her products as a long-term alternative to plastic. She hopes they will be used as a replacement for the prohibited plastic cutlery.

From January 1, the country prohibited the import, manufacture and trade of an expanded variety of single-use plastics. Those include beverage cups and lids, cutlery, plates, straws and food containers made from Styrofoam.

While the major push is aimed at cutting plastic waste and reducing pollution, companies such as Palmade look set to thrive. “2025 has been our best year to date and with the new legislation we expect it [2026] to be even better,” Ms Al Hashimy told The National.

The UAE-made biodegradable cutlery could be used as a replacement for banned single-use plastics. Antonie Robertson / The National

How does it work?

To produce its cutlery, the company uses date palm leaves – a resource traditionally burnt or sent to landfill after seasonal trimming. They are collected, ground, converted into pellets and moulded into cutlery. The spoons, forks, knives and coffee stirrers look and feel like plastic, but are biodegradable and compostable.

The company works with Emaar and its teams collect leaves from communities in Dubai to produce its cutlery. Since entering the market in January 2022, Ms Al Hashimy said Palmade has recorded steady annual growth, with the sharpest increase coming in the past 18 months as awareness of the harmful environmental impact of plastic waste grew.

“At the beginning, many companies were reluctant to switch, mainly because of price,” she said. Palmade products could be two to three times more expensive than plastic alternatives, she added.

“Plastic was the benchmark," she said. "But as people become more informed, there’s a greater willingness to adopt a more responsible approach to purchasing disposables.”

Ms Hashimy believes the plastic ban will also encourage local manufacturing and innovation, helping to reduce carbon footprints and correct long-standing price imbalances.

“Plastic has always been incorrectly priced because its environmental cost isn’t factored in,” she said. “As sustainable products become mainstream – and eventually the only option – there will be a natural price correction.”

Date palm leaves are traditionally burnt or sent to landfill after seasonal trimming. Antonie Robertson / The National

Plans for the future

Palmade’s products are used by hotels, catering companies, food trucks and restaurants across the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait. The company plans to expand beyond cutlery into bowls, takeaway containers and coffee-cup lids, with the aim of completing a full disposable tableware range by the end of the year.

“Our objective has always been to create value out of waste,” Ms Al Hashimy said. “Date palm leaves are abundant, local and sustainable. We want to show how they can replace short-use plastics without harming the environment.”