These bamboo plates are durable, dishwasher safe, and very lightweight - making them ideal for outdoor entertaining as well as everyday use. The material is a mixture of bamboo, corn starch, and food grade melamine binder, with the bamboo part being the waste scrap from chopstick factories. The melamine binder ensures durability and increases the life span of the product, allowing our tableware to be used repeatedly. Manufacturing bamboo composite tableware requires little water and energy compared to ceramic tableware production.