Akriti Sharma
Smitha Sarkar
Badrinath Nayak K
Darsh Mody
Amruta Marathe
Chirag Agarwal
Goa Institute of Management
Abhishek Naresh
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Innovation and sustainability are two essential ideas for addressing global environmental concerns and creating a better future. Today's businesses and sectors are increasingly looking for ways to lower their carbon footprint, eliminate waste, and promote responsible use of natural resources. As a result, sustainable technologies are critical in addressing concerns such as climate change, pollution, and the depletion of non-renewable energy and resources.
The development of environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional activities is one of the key areas of focus of sustainability. Bio-compostable materials replace non-recyclable and fossil-fuel-based products. These solutions encompass sustainable principles of reducing, reusing, and recycling, promote the protection of the environment, and yield advantages like lesser carbon emission and conservation of natural resources.
Eco Hive reduces reliance on fossil fuel energy while replacing conventional materials with bio-based, FDA-approved alternatives like PBAT and PLA, requiring lower carbon footprints and contributing to waste reduction. These solutions target UN SDG 13: Climate Action in that they help enable firms toward sustainable practices while providing tangible environmental or social outcomes.
Through innovative design, scalability, and a comprehensive approach to sustainability, Eco Hive empowers brands to tackle climate change by reducing reliance on non-biodegradable plastics and fostering the adoption of eco-friendly practices. This positions the company as a key driver of change in the packaging industry, promoting long-term environmental stewardship and sustainable development in India.
This innovation addresses SDG 13: Climate Action by providing sustainable packaging solutions to businesses, creating a long-term positive impact. The key aspects of this innovation include the use of bio-based, cornstarch-based, and biodegradable petroleum-based materials to develop sustainable packaging solutions that satisfy at least 2-3 cycles of sustainability, such as reduce, reuse, recycle, and replace. More importantly, there is a gap between well-built solutions available worldwide and those in India. So, EcoHive aims to bridge this gap by creating sustainable packaging products tailored to Indian weather and supply chain handling conditions. This is primarily achieved by integrating current manufacturing knowledge, customer needs, and a large-scale approach to sustainability. Traditional materials are replaced with FDA-approved bio-based plastics like PBAT and PLA, customized for Indian requirements.
The innovation caters to diverse sectors such as food, QSRs, FMCG, textiles, and gifting brands, offering creative packaging designs to ensure scalability. By measuring and monitoring the impact of sustainable packaging, it helps brands address SDG 13 through transparency and accountability.
This innovation identifies supply chain challenges, provides tailored solutions, and offers materials that are currently not manufactured in India. This is not just a product innovation but a comprehensive business model that enables businesses to develop sustainable products while ensuring long-term positive climate action. It empowers industries with scalable, employable solutions, fostering a transition to eco-friendly practices and measurable climate impact across India.
#Eco-friendly Packaging
Eco Hive assists other companies in reaching their sustainability goals by acting as an aggregator for eco-friendly services. Their goal is to encompass various industries, ranging from food and quick-service restaurants to FMCG. The business currently serves D2C, textile, and gifting brands. Regarding the inspiration for this innovation, the founder, a B2B sales professional, possesses extensive knowledge about the existing gaps in customer needs, which is a major reason for pursuing this venture. Furthermore, with the recent government push towards sustainability through the plastic ban, the founder, Ms Hinal Rathod, who was previously engaged in Risk Management and ESG Consulting, realised there was an opportunity to organise packaging better, providing a one-stop solution and assist companies in transitioning to eco-friendly practices, ultimately improving their ESG scores. Additionally, since packaging is one of her family's business sectors, she can simultaneously advance sustainability and cater to a diverse clientele and, as she said, "provide a real, sustainable solution rather than fake one that undermines the customer's goal to adopt a sustainable solution in their life should not be undermined". Together, these factors sparked the founder's interest in pursuing this innovation.
The overall impact of this innovation lies in its ability to drive systemic change in the unorganized packaging industry while addressing SDG 13: Climate Action. By integrating compostable bio-based plastics and biodegradable petroleum derivatives with advanced packaging solutions, the innovation delivers environmental, economic, and social benefits across industries.
Environmental Impact:
• Replacing traditional packaging materials with FDA-approved bio-based plastics like PBAT, PLA, and cornstarch reduces reliance on fossil fuels and minimizes carbon footprints.
• The focus on Reduce, Replace, and Recycle promotes sustainable practices, reducing waste and enabling better material management.
• Pan-India services and scalability across sectors such as food QSRs, FMCG, textiles, and gifting brands alternatives tailored to India’s climate and handling needs.
By bridging gaps between technical manufacturing expertise and sustainability needs, this innovation transforms packaging into a driver for climate action. Its tailored, scalable solutions ensure a positive environmental footprint, enabling industries to transition to eco-friendly practices and make a lasting impact on India’s sustainability goals.
Eco Hive has developed their products with expertly integrating the technical knowledge of the manufacturers and the growing needs of sustainable packing solutions. Eco Hive benefits from meeting the expectations of companies and their demands for sustainable packaging. The innovation helps them deliver value while unlocking the capabilities of eco-friendly manufacturing. It also ensures that the customer experience is not hampered after adopting the sustainable solutions.
The packaging industry is largely unorganized in India. Eco Hive is a one-stop eco-friendly packaging solutions provider. It is solving for the problem of sustainable packaging while giving shape to the Indian packaging industry. Moreover, as the innovation is not restricted to a certain industry, the company can serve clients from various organizations. This helps to expand their customer base and simultaneously work on other solutions gradually. Another aspect to look at is that Eco Hive’s solutions are not uni-dimensional and same for all clients. They tailor solutions as per the customer’s needs and products.
Adding on, Eco Hive’s solution is creating value for them because of the push by the Government of India and Governments across the globe for eco-friendly and 100% compostable packaging. This drives demand for their solutions.
As India is a developing country and the buzz around sustainable practices is persistent, Eco Hive is placed at a good juncture.
Eco Hive sustainable packaging has significant environmental benefits, making it a critical component in addressing global ecological challenges. One key advantage is the reduction of waste. Sustainable packaging is designed to be biodegradable, compostable, or recyclable, significantly decreasing the volume of waste that ends up in landfills or pollutes ecosystems.
Another benefit is the lowering of carbon emissions. The production of sustainable packaging often uses less energy and incorporates recycled or renewable materials, reducing the carbon footprint compared to traditional packaging made from virgin plastics. Sustainable packaging also helps in the conservation of natural resources. Furthermore, it minimizes pollution, especially in marine environments. Biodegradable and eco-friendly alternatives can help prevent this damage by naturally breaking down over time.
In summary, sustainable packaging promotes a healthier planet by reducing waste, conserving resources, lowering emissions, and protecting ecosystems, making it an essential step toward a more sustainable future.
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Hinal Paras Rathod, Co-Founder
Eco-Hive is a pioneering packaging company dedicated to setting the standard for sustainability and innovation in the industry. Aiming to reduce plastic waste and promote environmental consciousness, Eco-Hive offers customized eco-packaging made from biodegradable, reusable, and compostable materials. From custom manufacturing to consulting, each premium-quality, contemporary package reflects a commitment to a diverse range of industries striving to go green.