Business booming for Vernon wooden cutlery company

Kelowna, CHBC News : Thursday, May 17, 2012 7:49 PM

Business is booming for a North Okanagan company that makes disposable utensils out of wood. On Thursday, Aspenware unveiled its new, multi-million dollar facility in Vernon. Its utensils are biodegradable and offer an environmentally friendly alternative to disposable plastic cutlery. “This is a project that is going to change the way that everyone in the world thinks about disposable cutlery,” said Lowry Lund of Aspenware.  North Americans use 100 billion disposable plastic utensils every year; most of the products end up in landfills. The wooden utensils are made out of timber that forest companies do not want. “We use salvage wood, mostly aspen and birch,” said co-founder Terry Bigsby. Aspenware has been making the products for more than a decade but low production levels hampered growth. It was never able to produce more than 35,000 wooden forks, knives and spoons a day. In order to increase production, the company decided to develop its own technology, a $3 million machine that allows Aspenware to produce ten times as much cutlery as before. “We are talking with three or four of the largest fast food chains in the world,” said Doug Frankiw of Aspenware. “We have shipped to Chile and we’re also in Europe right now. Our biggest challenge is we can’t meet the production demands.” Aspenware’s goal is to eventually produce one billion wooden utensils a year. The company also hopes to expand its workface dramatically over the next few years.