From storing water to juices and quite a lot of different day by day necessities, plastic boxes have turn into ubiquitous in our environment. In spite of India’s ban on single-use plastic, we see little alternate within the quantity of plastic waste in landfills. Whilst many states have enforced bans on single-use plastic, plastic water bottles stay a commonplace supply of plastic waste finishing up in landfills.
In step with a record through Moneycontrol, “Roughly 2.8 lakh tonnes of plastic bottle waste is going uncollected every year. The environmental have an effect on is important. Macroplastics, together with PET, ceaselessly clog sewage methods in city and rural spaces, pollute rivers, lakes, and seashores, and degrade the classy and ecological price of vacationer locations and landscapes.”
To fight the escalating factor of plastic waste, many people and changemakers have devised quite a lot of answers. Amongst those innovators is Nikhil Kumar of Greenevon Bio Bottles, who has pioneered a bottle constructed from sugarcane!
“The bottle is 100% biodegradable and 100% herbal made the usage of sugarcane. Those bottles are surroundings pleasant and best take 180 days to degrade when uncovered to moisture and top temperatures,” Nikhil tells The Higher India.
So how did this innovator innovate a bottle the usage of a plant? We had been as intrigued as you might be.
‘It’s my dream to make the arena greener’
Born and raised in Delhi, Nikhil all the time harboured a keenness for industry. After finishing his commencement, he resolved to embark on an entrepreneurial adventure of his personal.
“This isn’t my first challenge into the industry international. I’ve all the time been pushed to create one thing that’s uniquely mine. To begin with, I ventured into the espresso trade, adopted through a stint within the clothes industry, sooner than transitioning into eco-friendly ventures,” he stocks.
Like many people, Nikhil grew up surrounded through the prevalent use of plastic bottles. “It wasn’t an in a single day realisation, however I’ve all the time been wakeful of environmental problems for so long as I will be able to recall. Then again, when it got here to taking motion, I felt a way of objective,” he explains.
Nikhil ceaselessly stumbled upon articles highlighting the escalating plastic waste disaster within the nation. “I become increasingly more acutely aware of the issue, and as an entrepreneur, I felt pressured to hunt an answer,” he asserts.
Whilst Nikhil recognizes that there are a couple of choice choices to plastic, he was once made up our minds to increase a product that resembled plastic in look and affordability however was once environmentally pleasant.
“I sought after to take a spoil from my earlier startup and center of attention only on discovering the appropriate choice,” he says. So, in 2021, he determined to promote his startup and pay attention totally on analysis.
He delved into studying about choices that had been lately to be had within the nation and all over the world. “There are options like copper, bamboo, and quite a lot of kinds of picket that individuals are the usage of as an alternative of plastic. Then again, I realised that those choices have their very own drawbacks — they’re pricey for standard use and have a tendency to be heavyweight. Those problems pose logistical demanding situations for producers taking a look to make use of them in packaging,” he notes.
Nikhil determined to search for choices that had been lighter in weight and sturdier in nature.
Discovering the appropriate area of interest
In 2021, he co-founded Greenevon Bio Bottles in conjunction with Chintan Prajapati.
“Chintan joined me halfway thru my analysis. Whilst I used to be assured in my path, I sought after to pay attention only on analysis and sought any individual who may just successfully marketplace the product. Chintan was once the very best have compatibility for this function, and our tasks are divided alongside an identical traces,” he stocks.
Sitting throughout from me, preserving a bottle that resembled a regular single-use plastic bottle — with the phrases ‘I’m a bottle however I’m really not plastic’ published on it — Nikhil is assured that the bottle will decompose in nature inside of six months or 180 days.
“You’ll faucet the bottle, and it’s going to sound like plastic; you’ll contact it, you’ll really feel it — it seems similar. The one distinction is that it’s biodegradable, plant-based, and environmentally pleasant,” he says.
Talking in regards to the subject matter and the producing procedure, Nikhil explains, “All the way through my analysis, I explored how vegetation might be utilised to create quite a lot of fabrics. Simply as vegetation can be utilized to make leather-based, I used to be investigating an identical probabilities after I stumbled upon the exceptional homes of sugarcane.”
“Sugarcane possesses an out of this world stretch ratio and sturdiness, and can be made clear. The combo of polycarbonate from the plant and starch bureaucracy the uncooked subject matter for the bottles,” he elaborates.
It took Nikhil just about two and a part years to refine the bottles to their provide state. “Lately, the bottles can also be moulded into quite a lot of shapes, able to preserving each liquid and cast meals, and will face up to other temperatures,” he concludes.
Then again, this degree was once completed after numerous trial and mistake. “The most important hurdle that I confronted whilst regulation designing those bottles was once making them clear below other temperatures and environments. The fabric reacted in a different way to the solar, chilly, and rain, and it was once a problem to stabilise it,” stocks Nikhil.
The bottles can cling liquids comparable to water and juices, semi-liquids, pharma merchandise, dairy merchandise, in addition to cast meals pieces. They may be able to be formed and moulded in any shape comparable to boxes.
“The 3 key elements that the bottle brings to the desk are — It’s 100% degradable, it’s solid below 55-degree Celsius temperatures, and it has 0 polycarbonate leaking,” he provides.
In regards to the affordability of the bottles, he explains, “The rest produced in smaller amounts has a tendency to be relatively costlier. Whilst plastic bottles are very affordable, we’re striving to make our product extra inexpensive. Lately, our bottles are just about 8 occasions costlier than single-use plastic bottles.”
“We’re involved with many eco-conscious firms, like ours, who’re fascinated with utilising our product. The area of interest we’ve recognized accommodates people interested by each the fee and sustainability sides of the product,” he provides.
Reflecting on his adventure to this point, Nikhil says, “Once I began, I approached it with an innovator’s mindset. If I have been overly involved in regards to the affordability and marketplace for the product, it will were difficult for me to concentrate on the product itself. My motivation was once to create one thing eco-conscious, and I left the remaining to destiny at the moment. It was once the fervour to innovate that stored me going.”
The corporate is lately within the production degree and is aiming to release the product in Indian markets inside the subsequent 4 months.
If you want to know extra about those distinctive plastic-like merchandise, you’ll succeed in out to the group right here.
(Edited through Pranita Bhat; All photos credit score: Greenevon Bottles)