Ms Mindy O'Brien:

It is if it is wooden. It could be a plastic spoon, though. Many of them are. I have spoken to the people in Zero Waste San Francisco. I was over there for a wedding and stopped into the office for a chat. They ban non-compostable containers. I asked them about the cost and they said they increased the demand. I am not an economist but if one increases demand, supply will correspond and when supply increases, prices come down. They had more people buying the compostable containers. All the coffee shops were using paper or sugar cane or some sort of compostable container.

We may need an economic nudge to encourage people to go into other businesses. It is also worth considering changing VAT in order that compostables would have a lower VAT rate than items made out of worse material. There are business opportunities for compostable packaging. I agree about paper bags. When I go to my local cafe, I bring my own container and just say no. I do not need any bag or plastic cutlery. It is a behavioural shift but we should encourage people to bring their own containers.