Ekobo

33.4942°N, 111.9261°W

Scottsdale, AZ, USA

At Airstream, we try to #LeaveItBeautiful wherever we travel. One of the easiest ways to do that is to invest in quality dishware. It keeps disposable paper and plastic out of the landfill, contributes to less litter blowing away from campsites and overflowing trash bins, and reduces deforestation and air pollution. It's even better when that dishware is made with responsible practices, turning what was formerly waste into the basic building blocks of the product. Ekobo does just that, and their bamboo fiber dishware and accessories are some of our new favorites for stocking the Airstream galley's cupboards.

Bamboo fiber dishware that's eco-friendly, durable, and beautifully modern.

Bamboo is one of the most renewable materials on the planet. It grows at a tremendous rate and flourishes organically without the use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides. Bamboo can be continuously harvested every three years without damaging the plants – or the surrounding environment. It's strong, versatile, and used in millions of different ways around the world.

Nearly 80 percent of the bamboo used worldwide is grown in Asia. As it's cut and shaped into a variety of products, a lot of it ends up on the floor as sawdust waste. Much of that sawdust is repurposed as fuel to be burned as energy. Ekobo saw an opportunity to take the sawdust waste created at bamboo flooring and chopstick manufacturing facilities and repurpose it as the primary ingredient in a new line of eco-friendly dishware products.

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The result is BIOBU® – an alternative to traditional plastics, glass, and other fragile and disposable dishware. A composite material, BIOBU is comprised of bamboo fiber and a 100 percent non-toxic, food-grade melamine binder. Strong, shatterproof, and dishwasher safe, BIOBU products are free of BPA, PVC, and other harsh and toxic chemicals. And the dyes Ekobo uses to color their products are food-grade, non-toxic, and mixed with the powder composite as it's formed – meaning the color is baked into the mass of the product and not coating on top of it.