UAE entrepreneur Lamis Al Hashimy has launched Palmade, a company dedicated to producing green and eco-friendly tableware using fallen date palm leaves that were previously only used for composting.
Her aim is to develop a range of date palm green products to replace disposable plastic items in the UAE and overseas.
In a factory in Dubai, machines buzz as the leaves are ground into powder, mixed with sugarcane extract to form granules, and finally crafted into knives, forks, spoons, chopsticks, and coffee stirrers.
While this disposable tableware looks and feels like plastic, it is indeed an environmentally friendly product, currently supplied to hotels and supermarkets in the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
Al Hashimy says, "As a mother of three children, I wanted to create something for them to learn from and be proud of."
Palmade Biodegradable Products was established in 2019 and officially launched during the Expo 2020 Dubai in October 2021.
The company partners with Emaar, with its team collecting leaves from the greenery of Dubai communities to produce disposable tableware.
This tableware is used in Emaar hotels, food outlets during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Spinneys supermarkets, and extensively during the food stalls at Cop28 in Dubai.
Previously, the factory could produce 10,000 items every two weeks, but now it can produce 70,000 items per day.
After establishing a foothold in the region, the company aims to expand its product line to the markets of Asia and Europe.
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