In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, when his friends engaged themselves in making social media content material, Mohammed Azhar Mohiuddin noticed this as a chance to delve into entrepreneurship and take on urgent problems akin to plastic air pollution.
From a tender age, he dabbled in quite a lot of ventures from web page construction, emblem designing, to operating a cloud kitchen to promoting burgers from house. His entrepreneurial spirit was once fueled via a want to resolve issues fairly than only chasing monetary good points.
“In 2019, I puzzled what I used to be actually even chasing. Cash? That might come even when I began specializing in fixing actual existence issues,” he says.
Whilst researching on best world environmental problems, Azhar discovered that there were a number of consciousness campaigns and protests international on plastic air pollution. “Until we have now another, there is not any technique to curb plastic utilization. Whilst giant manufacturers can find the money for jute and material luggage however medium and small companies which contain a bulk of the Indian marketplace proceed to make use of plastic luggage,” he provides.
“One of the vital main causes at the back of the intensive use of plastic luggage are its houses. It’s water-resistant, thermal, sturdy, lightweight, and has excellent tensile energy. I sought after to seek out an answer that might replicate the houses of plastic whilst being eco-friendly and less expensive than paper, material, and jute possible choices,” he says.
This quest led him to release ‘Bio Reform’, a Hyderabad-based startup that manufactures compostable luggage the usage of corn waste, sugars, cellulose, and different herbal elements into sustainable biopolymers. Prior to now two years, it has changed over six million plastic luggage.
Demanding situations at the means
Azhar drew his inspiration from a biopolymer analysis paper relationship again to the 1800s.
He began learning a few biodegradable polymer, PBAT (Polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate), this is derived from plant-based assets akin to corn and potatoes. This shaped the foundation of a brand new industry endeavour for Azhar.
Your next step was once to seek out the suitable equipment to procedure the uncooked fabrics into finish merchandise. His decision was once examined when he confronted a number of setbacks akin to encountering fraudulent schemes and operational difficulties within the early levels.
“My uncle and I went to Delhi to test the equipment once we got here to understand a reputedly promising alternative nevertheless it grew to become out to be a rip-off. The touch particular person was once no longer answering our calls and his promised location grew to become out to be a barren land. It was once very traumatising for us. I had by some means satisfied my oldsters and now I didn’t need to return house empty-handed,” he says.
Decided to not let this setback deter them, Azhar and his uncle took a bounce of religion and reached out to every other touch in Gujarat, which got here with its personal collection of demanding situations.
Touchdown all through a curfew amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Azhar needed to spend lots of the evening stranded at the street because the lodge denied check-in because of a surprising RT-PCR file requirement. “However the perseverance paid off once we witnessed the equipment and its reside demonstration the following morning,” he provides.
Round the similar time, he gained Rs 1 crore investment from the Journey Park incubator programme. In early 2022, he inaugurated his manufacturing facility in Hyderabad on the age of twenty-two.
Changed 6 million plastic luggage
Putting in place a producing unit from scratch was once itself difficult for Azhar. He needed to arrange the intricacies of a producing industry and the pressures of balancing educational commitments.
“At the inauguration day, my uncle, who was once additionally the co-founder, surrender the corporate mentioning some private causes. I attempted to steadiness each my research and the operations of the corporate – from amassing uncooked subject material, aiding staff to fabricate luggage, turning in the goods out there. I used to sleep in a nook within the manufacturing facility,” stocks Azhar, who was once then within the 3rd yr of his school.
This persisted for a yr however Azhar needed to close the manufacturing facility down after he was once not able to make earnings to maintain the corporate. “I got here again to 0. In the meantime, I had 14-15 backlogs in my engineering. In a bid to steadiness each jobs, I failed at each. It was once a worrying state of affairs for me,” he provides.
But, via sheer grit and incessant effort, the civil engineer no longer simplest cleared all assessments but in addition secured a investment from an investor, and sooner or later revived his undertaking in a few months.
Nowadays, his corporate is production 4-5 lakh raise luggage, biomedical waste luggage, rubbish luggage, meals pouches, and e-book wraps. Curiously, Azhar says, those luggage are compostable and may also be decomposed inside 180 days. Within the closing two years, his startup has changed greater than six million plastic luggage via commercialising within the B2B chain.
Final yr, he clocked an annual earnings of Rs 1.8 crore.
Mohd Sami Uddin, co-founder of Nation Hen Co, has been the usage of Bio Reform luggage for greater than a yr. Sharing his comments, he tells The Higher India, “We needed to concentrate on sustainable packaging up to conceivable. Previous to Bio Reform luggage, we have been the usage of plastic luggage. Afterward, we additionally attempted different sustainable luggage however sadly, they have been neither meals grade high quality nor awesome.”
“Now and then, the purchasers would whinge to us if some sharp bones would come out from low-grade luggage. Then again, Bio Reform luggage meet all our necessities and may also be simply sealed as smartly, very similar to plastic. But even so, there was once no longer a lot distinction from the fee level additionally. The plastic luggage would value us Rs 160 according to kg while Bio Reform luggage value Rs 180 according to kg,” he provides.
On the particular person stage, Azhar says that he has spearheaded a motion against India’s imaginative and prescient to grow to be single-use plastic-free.
“Problems associated with plastic air pollution don’t seem to be restricted to affecting aquatic existence and animals anymore. Nowadays, microplastic has reached our bloodstream. Bottled water comprises microplastics. Addressing that is the most important and pressing downside,” he says.
“I’m happy I’m able to give a contribution my phase. It’s every now and then taxing not to lead a typical school existence however in any case, it’s all price it. I think content material once I return to sleep. However a lot more must be completed to make India plastic-free, and I will be able to proceed to attempt for it,” he provides.
Edited via Padmashree Pande; All pictures: Mohammed Azhar.