Innovation

Biopapro, founded in 2019 in Mumbai, India, is one of the first manufacturers in India that provides biodegradable wooden cutlery. They pledge to eliminate the usage of environmentally damaging products and replace them with sustainable alternatives, which are reliable, nontoxic, and 100% compostable. In the wake of the Global Pandemic, which was spread across the globe, hygiene and safety came into top consideration. This is why single-use disposable products for the consumption of food and snacks helped the cause, being a single-use disposable item, which is Made in India with standards approved worldwide.

In India, the unemployment rate for women in the urban area is 10.1%. This is now evolving, and new businesses like Biopapro hire more women to elevate them in society. They are motivated to give women equal opportunities. At Biopapro, women make up about 80% of the workforce.

This is how Biopapro is doing its part to make the world a better place.

Inspiration

Plastic cutlery is everywhere, and most of it can be used only once. Billions of forks, knives, and spoons are thrown away each year. Unlike other plastic items such as bags and bottles, cutlery can take centuries to break down naturally, giving the plastic waste ample time to work its way into the environment. To top it all, plastic cutleries are a cheaper go-to resort over other sustainable options and hence sometimes, the most obvious choice. Around 700 species are in danger of extinction, with an average of 6 million tons of non-durable plastic dumped into the sea! In short, we are killing the ocean, one plastic cutlery at a time. On being made aware of the eye-popping stats, none of us needs plastic cutlery delivered, or be anywhere around us. However, plastic comes up anyway, by default, by way of an unconscious and wasteful habit.

On interviewing the founder of Biopapro, Mr Yash Chandan, we came to know about what inspired him to start this venture. As he had a business background, he always aspired to start his own venture, and the right opportunity came knocking on his door. Mr Chandan quotes:

" I met three people on the same day who were interested in biodegradable products, and they asked if you are working on it. Do you think there's a scope? Then I went and travelled, stayed in China for 30 days, and found the right machines. Saw an opportunity and capitalised on it."

Mr Chandan graduated from Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, which is known for its sustainability that acted as a stepping stone for his vision and ideology. He had the correct network and wanted to make sure that he was doing something good for the environment, too.

Overall impact

The company aims to contribute toward solving the plastic problem by offering a range of earth-friendly and 100% biodegradable tableware. With the purpose of helping the world become plastic-free, they aim to take collaborative steps towards conscious consumption. BIOPAPRO promotes an eco-conscious lifestyle that begins with a slight change, in the hope that a chain of small steps has the potential to create a circular economy- one that endorses the reduction of waste and recycling materials during production.

The company is determined to reduce its ecological footprint with sustainable tableware to take a collective step towards environmental cognizance. By producing more than 450 tons of wooden cutlery per month, on average, they are reducing 6,500 Kg of plastic usage per day. Birchwood, which is used to manufacture the products, can absorb more CO2 than is released when it is processed into wooden cutlery.

The company, in a short span of 3 years, has been able to create a positive impact on the environment and society. They have also been able to reduce gender inequality by employing more than 300 women in their organisation.

Their continued efforts to reduce single-use plastic will surely impact the environment and create a greener and cleaner tomorrow.

Business benefit

Having conceptualized Biopapro consisting of a 3 person team in March 2019, it dived into paper straws which the company proudly call the "Biosips". The business blew up exponentially, and the founders just knew they had to expand and become full-time manufacturers.

Biopapro is currently staying focused on the export market and has offices in Europe (Germany). There is a huge scope for expansion in the market in India and abroad. The European Union is going for a Pan Ban over the use of single-use plastic, and other nations like the US are planning to cut down on consumption too. These are enough signs that prove big opportunities are coming their way.

Today, they have a team of over 300 workers, with over 80% of them being women, and are currently catering to international market standards with a daily production capacity of over 2.2 million cutleries. It gives immense pleasure to see India on the global map for sustainable cutleries and how empowering it is to see women's dominance in the factory. They have successfully retained 100% of their clients, keeping them happy with the products and services offered. Investing more into marketing and targeting more production, Biopapro aspires to be a market leader in the industry.

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Social and environmental benefit

In the U.S., 40 billion individual plastic utensils are used every year. This is just a small part of the over 27 million tons of plastic that enters U.S. landfills every year. Disposable wooden utensils are a sustainable way to reduce our reliance on plastics. They use fewer resources, produce fewer by-products, and create less waste than single-use plastics. Additionally, when produced with a robust supply chain, they are cost-competitive with plastic and project an environmentally conscious image. This is a key part of capturing the growing market of consumers that prefer environmentally conscious businesses. Birch is one of the most common types of wood used. It is a relatively fast-growing tree so it can be planted for the sole purpose of harvesting. This allows old-growth and other natural forests to remain intact, protecting biodiversity.

Another reason wood is considered an environmentally friendly material is because it is a carbon sink. This means wood traps carbon and stores it inside of its structure. Carbon remains there until the wood is destroyed. This makes the lifecycle of disposable wooden utensils carbon neutral. An equal amount of carbon dioxide is stored inside wooden utensils as is released while they are being produced.

In some cases birch and bamboo can absorb more CO2 than is released when they are processed into utensils. They actually reduce the overall amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Compared to plastic this makes wood very environmentally friendly. For example, Birch traps around 48 kg of CO2 per 1 kg of tree mass. Polypropylene (PP) plastic produces over 2 kg of CO2 per 1 kg of plastic made.

Eventually, when a wooden utensil is disposed of, the carbon is released. But unlike when carbon is produced from burning fossil fuels, it is not released directly into the atmosphere. Instead, the carbon is either consumed by other organisms for energy, slowly being released as CO2 into the atmosphere, or it becomes trapped in soil. Overall, the CO2 will eventually end up back in the atmosphere, but at a much slower rate than burning fossil fuels.

Therefore, this innovation is helping the environment in a number of ways.

Interview

Yash Chandan, Founder

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