A biodegradable dish rack made out of corn starch. Bamboo bowls and tableware. A harvested cork cutting board and a temperature controlled butter dish that doesn’t use batteries. The houseware products industry is going green, and these are some of the products that will be unveiled at the 2008 International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago this March.In the U.S., the housewares market is $72.7 billion. And while some of the new green products are costly, Michael Murray, director of operations for Bambu, a company specializing in bamboo products, says that with growing awareness and growing mass marketing, prices will come down.
The largest exhibitor at the show will be Lifetime Brands, a product development and marketing firm that plans to have a major introduction later this year of a new line of products with a new sustainable material. “It will be revolutionary for our industry,” said Bill Lazaroff, Lifetimes Brand senior VP for product development and design.