Innovation

When we spoke with Mr. Puneet, he told us his thought process behind the idea, and the key innovation, in this case, was "How to make the most of available resources while having no impact on the environment".

Edible cutlery did exist in the market but isn't easily available and is generally exorbitant. Mr. Datta formulated the idea to make the same at a lower cost with easily available ingredients. He picked up whole wheat flour and jaggery as the main ingredients of his products.

Another key innovation is offering flavor variants that aren't commonly thought of. These flavors are available with Attaware for customized orders.

Inspiration

Mr. Puneet Dutta, the CEO, and Founder of ATTAWARE is from Delhi.

After his Masters, he was working as a Global Recruitment Manager in an MNC.

The journey for Attaware begins when he was traveling from Delhi to Vrindavan.

He saw that the Yamuna river, which has sadly turned black, has white patches. His curious mind pulled him towards the river to find out that it was a stretch of seven and a half kilometers of white Styrofoam dumped in the river. This incident struck an important question, "Why cannot we have eco-friendly Bhandaras?"

He went further to see people in queues to have food on disposal plates which is the usual trend. But a Sadhu standing in the queue came out of it, folded 3-4 rotis, and then ate the vegetables over it. And then left saying, "You wait for your turn to eat on Styrofoam".

This incident had shaken him, he left his job, started with the research, found the right mix and blend for the Edible Cutlery which doesn't spoil the food item and doesn't get spoiled easily as it has a longer shelf life. This is how Attaware came into existence.

Overall impact

“What you eat is your business, it's served in the most sustainable way is our business”, says Mr. Datta.

The company has been running for around two years, but the impact it is making is beyond any boundaries. Attaware proves its uprightness by not talking but following the value that it has set, some of which includes supporting farmers in India, generating more employment, zero-waste production, etc.

We were glad to find out the values and practice of the organization aligns with several United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Attaware generating employment (no poverty), giving equal employment opportunities to women and ensuring their full and effective participation (gender equality), ensuring sustainable production and production pattern-reducing the global material footprint, making sure that there is zero waste (life on land), making the product safe and friendly for underwater inhabitants (life below water) all adds up the big overall positive imprint that the organization has.

One of the direct biggest impacts that we could see is finding an alternative for paper, plastic, and Styrofoam cups. Billions of paper cups produced results in greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming or otherwise degrading natural resources. The alternative of the same and replacing those products would directly help the environment.

Firm active in making difference in social and environmental causes also brings a perspective of its customer, upon our research about the company we found out how people loved this idea and found it so valuable to move towards sustainability.

Business benefit

Being a truly Indian start-up Attaware focuses on the Make in India concept highlighting the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission of the Prime Minister. With an authorized and paid-up share capital of Rs.100,000, Attaware Biodegradable Private Limited was incorporated on 23 August 2019.

Their operations are economically viable and impactful. For procurement, they have connected with 23,600 farmers who grow crops such as wheat, sugarcane, bajra, etc. In doing so, they ensure that the raw material is exactly as per requirement and at a reasonable cost which would be lower than procuring from other sources through middlemen.

Around 99 percent of the workforce employed in the factory for the manufacturing process are unskilled women laborers and a total of 6000 Days of employment was generated for over 50 employees during the pandemic. By doing this, the business attempts cost minimization and in turn offers products at lower prices to ensure maximum adoption of the product. If there is large-scale adoption of the product, the company will scale its operations in the future achieving economies of scale.

Social and environmental benefit

Over 99% of Attaware employees are unskilled laborers and they believe in providing equal employment opportunities to all. There is a dual benefit, where the company is providing respectable employment opportunities to a section of the society that otherwise doesn't have many avenues of getting employed. The business also attempts to support farmers by eliminating middlemen and benefiting both the firm and farmers. The firm makes sure that the entire process has a sparse carbon footprint.

The manufacturing process is 100% pollution-free with no air, water, soil, and noise pollution. The products are chemical-free and are made of natural products, thus making the product completely bio-degradable. However, the beauty of the product is that it doesn't need to go to landfills. If one isn't interested in eating their plates, these can simply be offered to animals as they don't contain any harmful elements. The company saved 90 Ton plastic Cutlery to reach the Landfill, saved 3500000 liters of water, and 490000 kilograms of food generated for stray animals.

The firm has the vision to reduce carbon footprint as well by setting up new plants in regions with higher demands and thus creating more employment opportunities as well.

Interview

Puneet Datta, CEO and Founder

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