Is Disposable Cutlery Spreading Germs In Your Office?

As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in 2020, our facility took a close look at how we were sanitizing and disinfecting and what procedures we should follow to keep our employees safe. We sanitized with Covid 19 recommended supply items, wiping down high-touch surfaces with disinfectant, using electrostatic sprayers, and wearing masks and disposable gloves like everyone else.

Then we ran into an area which should have been obvious but was initially overlooked by us (and probably many other office facilities, as well). We provide disposable cutlery for our employees, keeping forks, spoons and knives in a drawer or open container.

In the past, we had separate open containers of forks, spoons, and plastic knives as needed in a drawer. Our employees, and sometimes office visitors would reach into the container and pick out a piece of cutlery. We didn’t think about how unsanitary this was prior to Covid-19. Once we realized, we searched for a solution and found the Georgia Pacific Profession Dixie Ultra® SmartStock® touchless disposable cutlery dispenser.

Dixie Ultra® SmartStock® Dispenser Features

The Dixie Ultra® SmartStock® dispenser is a fully enclosed dispensing unit, that is:

• Easy to use
• Holds up to 390 utensils
• Equipped with a one-at-a-time automatic dispenser which ensures that only the user touches their own cutlery, minimizing potential contamination.

Unlike other cutlery dispensers, it holds forks, spoons and knives in one unit, so you don’t need 3 different dispensers for each cutlery type. The indicator tab at the top of the unit signals the users when cutlery is running low, changing from green to yellow, and to red when empty.

How To Use The Dixie Ultra® SmartStock® Dispenser

The Smartstock dispenser's small base and convenient height (31 inches) make it easy to place on a table or mount to the wall. The disposable cutlery we use is medium weight but very strong, made from polystyrene plastic with a full range of forks, teaspoons, soup spoons, forks and knives. It comes wrapped in 40 packs, with printed arrows to guide you through loading them into the dispenser. Once loaded you simply need to pull the paper tab to release the cutlery into the dispenser. Installing the SmartStock dispenser, in addition to following other reopening recommendations, have helped our employees to feel more confident, knowing that we added another layer of protection against possible viral contamination in our office.