First the spoons are sturdy have no flavor or odor and are exceptionally smooth. We eat hard ice cream with them no problem. As an added bonus these are made in the USA! For those that are saying you need to take these to a special facility to have these breakdown vs. your local landfill I want to make sure you see the comment from the Q & A section on this page from the mfg. I was very satisfied with their response. "Based on ASTM D6400 Standards our certified compostable utensils will break down into nutrient-rich compost in 2 - 4 months provided the process is perform in a composting facility (where it was tested and verified). If the compostable silverware happens to find its way to the landfill it would still be better option from a biodegradability standpoint to plastic silverware. Since the landfill conditions will vary and where certified compostable products usually haven’t been tested we can't estimate how long it would take to compost. Conventional plastic could take ~400 hundred years to finally dissolve leaving behind micro-plastic while all natural 100% compostable utensils would expect to start to break down in months without leaving behind toxins. In addition certified 100% compostable products takes 65% less energy to make and produces 68% fewer greenhouse gases than conventional plastics. Thus it leaves a smaller carbon footprint than plastics during production. It also uses all-natural plant resources which is a better sustainable and renewable option when compared to trees or plastic. In essence we are starting with a big environmental win before we even consider disposal!"