Meysia Stephanie
IPMI International Business School
Amelia Naim Indrajaya
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Indonesia's (or the world's!) solution to the plastic epidemic. Are you aware that the products we use everyday such as plastic cutlery, paper cups, and plastic bags for a mere 30 minutes can have a negative impact on earth for centuries? Yes these extensively used products are only be able to decompose after hundreds of years later. Avani is established to address this single-use plastic problem using cassava, a tropical root found abundantly in Indonesia.
Avani manufactures both compostable and cornstarch products with products ranging from take-away cups and boxes, wooden eating cutleries, and bags to paper straws – a one stop eco-friendly solution catering to the food & beverage sectors and hotel industry. All of their products are sustainable, biodegradable and compostable, and fully customizable. Furthermore, Avani engages in a closed loop circular economy where resources are in use for as long as possible, they extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life (www.wrap.org.uk).
By focusing on replacing single-use plastic products, the company offers many products starting with rain ponchos. The brainchild of Avani, this biowear eco poncho is made of corn, soy and sunflower seeds. This is a very eco-friendly alternative to the normally used petroleum based rain poncho. Durable up to 6 months, this rain poncho is compostable and has been used in international events such as the London Paralympics.
Their paper straws, are both FDA approved and their cornstarch products are all made from plants instead of oil and certified as non GMO HACCP certified (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). Avani paper straws utilizes a plant-based inner wax coating which allow up to an hour long usage. Avani Kraft paper food box is made from 100% chlorine-free which replaced the commonly used petroleum-based plastic products. This can be used to hold cold, hot, wet, and dry food product and will result in lower carbon footprint.
Another of their innovative product, bagasse tableware is made from bagasse, a sugarcane fiber waste left after juice extraction. Bagasse, a major contributor in the bioenergy sector (www.biomassproducer.com.au), required less energy to make compared to pulping wood for paper products. Through their technology Avani is able to turn waste into valuable and sustainable products. All their Bagasse Tableware are good to hold hot and oil due to its natural wax lining, as well as they can be microwaveable and freezable.
In essence, Avani provides sustainable disposable solution. The founder, Kevin Utama understand that Bali being a flourishing tourist destination, has a large food & beverage market to cater too. The company aims to help rehabilitate the island by offering 100% sustainable disposable packaging solutions and compostable plastic alternatives to Bali's hospitality & retail industries.
Avani is Earth in Sankrit ancient language. This forms Avani's basic values in carrying out its mission: from earth to earth. With something we take from Mother Earth we need to return it back in the same way it was given to us - harmless.
An avid diver and surfer from the young age of nine, founder Kevin Kumala has always have find an attachment towards Bali white, sandy beaches. However he was shocked at what he would see years later upon coming back from the US.
The increased commercialization activities, largely due to a high influx of tourists into Bali, lead to a significant increase in waste trail. Not something everyone is aware of, there is a landfill in Bali called TPA Suwung whose waste can be high as a 14-story building. The tropical island paradise is no longer the same home he called it many years back. Bali pristine white beaches are now saturated with plastic garbage.
This condition bothered Kevin. Applying his degree in microbiology major through years of research and development, along with a group of similar minded individuals, they founded PT Nirwana Alam Hijau. Under the trade name Avani, this social enterprise supplies eco-friendly products as a replacement to plastic. They utilized technology to combat the global epidemic of plastic solution starting from Bali – a place they called home.
A lifelong advocate for 3Rs, Kevin still carry his own reusable grocery bags when he goes grocery shopping. On the other hand he understood that people tend to forget about this in today’s lifestyle. This is the reason why he and David Rosenqvis, co-founder established Avani and invented these innovative products to replace those petroleum-based plastic. He thinks “replace” is a more of a convenient answer which can relate to most of the people living in this planet. Despite that their products cost a little more – just $0.02 for each cassava plastic bag – he believe this is a small price to pay when the fact that the whole of Asia is drowning in an ocean full of plastic waste.
Chief Green Officer- such an unusual designation some might say but definitely not for Kevin. As a social enterprise providing green solutions, he believed that this designation makes very true sense. He can inspire his young and dynamic team of 80 to spread green solutions to plastic waste epidemic rampant at every corner of the world.
At the same time, in delivering its values as a social enterprise, Avani is committed to help teach its inhabitants, through their partnership programs, on how to maintain and help return Bali's tarnished image to its past glory. Along with the cooperation of Bali’s food & beverage sector and retail industries, Avani hope they can minimize the amount of toxic plastics, consumed and discarded into Bali ecosystem. Now Jakarta reported that figures show that since early 2016, Avani has managed to replace 955.7 cubic meters in volume or 131.5 tons of otherwise hazardous and unsustainable materials (http://nowjakarta.co.id/most-valuable-business-initiative-paves-a-path-to-the-future).
With a 80 strong team members company, Avani hope to provide green solutions at many different regions by lowering carbon footprints through exports. A multinational social enterprise? Nothing is impossible.
The large amount of international tourists visiting Bali every year can help elevates Avani's green solutions worldwide and this complements the hashtag they have created.
#IAMNOTPLASTIC is a movement initiated to invite people worldwide to join the fight against plastic. With the support of social medias as the essence of our everyday lives, Avani hopes that green solutions can be shared and be an inspiration to individuals all over the world. This resonate with UN Sustainable Development Goal 17 on partnership for goals. Every individual is Avani's partners to reach the goal of reduced plastic waste.
Avani Eco prides themselves as one who does packaging with principles and yet on at the same time they offer a customizable design for almost of their products. This basically erases the perception that eco-friendly products are boring. Restaurateurs, cafe owners, and hotel management are then able to provide an aesthetical feel to their patrons and consumers.
As a social enterprise, Avani is adopting the Triple Bottom Line – People, Profit, and Planet to assure the sustainability of their business. Recipient of the prestigious “Most Valuable Business” initiative award, Avani have successfully influence the community as well as other businesses to be more sustainable.
Avani is currently proud to have 400 customers both local and worldwide. Despite the majority of them are expat-owned local F&B (food and beverage) businesses in Bali, end users have been putting pressures on locally owned establishments to start converting to Avani eco-friendly products. Kevin claimed this is word of mouth marketing at its best. Popular establishments in Bali have now started using Avani's products and this definitely appeals to the consumers, regardless of whether they are green conscious or not.
Bali produces around 1,000 cubic meters of plastic garbage everyday but only 0.5% of this waste is recyclable or gets up-cycled. Avani provides affordable and eco-friendly product alternatives to Bali hotel, food & beverage, and retail industry whereby plastic waste are largely consumed.
Straws are one of their most popular products in term of quantity sold which is a positive thing according to Kevin. Taking into account that the average length of a straw is about 20 cm long and each Indonesian consume about one each day, there would be about 5,000 km of plastic materials being discarded everyday. This is equivalent to the distance between Bali and Sydney. This is a whopping amount of plastic we are totally unaware of.
Most critical of all, this gives hopes to animals living in the sea. Indonesia, with over 17,000 islands is one of the worst offenders in terms of marine littering. Indonesia is second highest polluter after China. (https://phys.org/news/2017-02-cassava-carrier-bags-indonesian-entrepreneur.html#jCp) This effort supports SDGs 14 of life below water. In fact this is welcomed by the animals living in there. They literally fight for the cassava bags, one of Avani most popular products, among each other because the bags are edible.
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Kevin Kumala, Chief Green Officer
