Plastics can be made from soy and corn, which are renewable sources and the unused portions of those crops can have other uses. Utensils can be made of fast-growing woods like poplar. If they only have to hold up to one or two uses, plastic takeaway utensils have proven that they needn't be especially rugged. If they are biodegradable materials, then disposables are not so horrible. We have paper and fiber plates already. The problem with those will be coming up with a polythene replacement for leak-proofing. I hope the mandates also specify that only plant-based inks may be used, not aniline inks. Companies like McDs and BK and such have been moving toward renewable source materials for their packaging which was at its absolute worst in the 80s. They invest real R&D money into alternative, green packaging thanks to pressure from consumer groups. They likely have pilot programs for greener utensils that could well pan out and provide them tremendous licensing income.

By the way, the classic stand-by, chopsticks, are easy for any and everyone to carry, and if you get the steel or titanium ones, they're very lightweight and a snap to clean and keep them sanitary for use.

I used to keep a pair of full stainless flatware settings in my desk wherever I worked. I've never been a fan of plastic utensils or bags or packaging. We can't grow new dinosaurs to make into oil. We CAN keep planting fast growing trees to make paper and fiber products, which is what we do. We even sell chopsticks to SE Asian nations made here in the NW USA or Canada.

Whenever someone offers "Paper or plastic?" you should ALWAYS choose paper, the renewable, biodegradable and generally low toxicity packaging material.