Ekoe accompanies us on our excursions in an eco-sustainable way.

Generally the community of hikers, loving nature very much, is respectful of the environment and very careful not to leave waste on the paths but unfortunately there are exceptions and, still too often, we come across plastic tableware, paper bars , bags, cans and anything else sprouting from the bushes.
By 2020 we should all have learned that plastic, a revolutionary material that has changed our lives, takes hundreds and hundreds of years to decompose, causing enormous damage to the environment, to animals and, consequently, also to human beings.

A few days ago the news came that in Sri Lanka a herd of elephants went to look for food in a open landfill and the ingestion of plastic, as confirmed by the autopsy, caused the death of six of them.
But this is just one of the many examples that can be brought to demonstrate the harmfulness of plastic.

Can we do something?  Yes, Of course!

Collecting our waste (and perhaps even those "forgotten" by others), when we do outdoor activities, and dispose of them in the right way in the appropriate bins to allow recycling, is an elementary but extremely important gesture, is the first step that we all MUST do.
The next step: use biodegradable products and, above all , made with natural materials that make them compostable , that is, if abandoned in the environment they degrade quickly (in any case it is recommended not to do so) and can be thrown into organic waste to become compost.

But ATTENTION , not everything that is biodegradable is automatically compostable, to be defined as such a product must have the following requirements defined by the European standard UNI EN 13432: 2002.

• When it decomposes at least 90% in six months in an environment rich in carbon dioxide
• If it is placed in contact with organic materials for 3 months, 90% of the material is reduced to fragments of less than 2 millimeters
• It has pH values and concentrations of added heavy metals, volatile solids, salt, nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium within established limits
• It has no negative effect on the composting process.

We find all these characteristics in the products made by the Italian company Ekoe.

Ekoe was born in 2011 as an environmental association and over the years it has grown and expanded to become a well-structured company that created the first online marketplace for plastic free , disposable items, ecological and sustainable.
We discovered this virtuous reality by looking for compostable straws and after being satisfied with our purchase we also tested other useful items for our outdoor activities, such as tablecloths, napkins, plates, glasses, cutlery and various containers but their offer is much wider, from hygiene products to bags to salad bowls.

All items offer the same functionality as their plastic counterparts but with great benefits for our planet.
In our backpack, for example, together with the thermal bottle, there are always biodegradable coffee glasses to share a sweet break with our fellow adventurers, and we can confirm that those produced by Ekoe resist to high temperatures of coffee and tea, they are odorless and do not alter the drink flavor , with the advantage of being thrown into the wet to become fertilizer for the soil.