Sustainable Packaging – Dutch Uncles

Consumer Demand for Sustainable Products is Motivating Brands to Go Green

Shalmoli Sarkar — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 10:35:07 +0000

In recent times sustainable and eco-friendly have increasingly risen to become buzzwords, among Indian shoppers and so is its adoption in several D2C brands especially in the fashion and beauty space. The childhood lessons of environmental harm caused by humans are ingrained in the minds of Indian consumers, especially millennials, are driving the growth of sustainable brands.

A new report from the Capgemini Research Institute says that 79 percent of the consumers are changing their purchase preferences for brands focusing on social responsibility, inclusiveness, and environmental impact.

Is Covid-19 driving the sustainable business of brands?

A global survey from Accenture finds that at the onset of covid, 60 percent of the consumers have shifted to environmentally friendly, sustainable, or ethical purchases, and 9 out of 10 will continue to do so. The pandemic has led consumers to prioritise climate change and is preferring to live a life of minimalism. According to Capgemini’s report, 67 percent of the consumers will be more cautious about the scarcity of natural resources due to the COVID-19 crisis, and 65% will be more mindful about the impact of their overall consumption in the “new normal”.

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A report from Capgemini Research Institute says that 79 percent of the consumers are changing their purchase preferences for brands focusing on social responsibility, inclusiveness, and environmental impact.

Consumers and entrepreneurs following the sustainable suit

India’s millennial and Gen Z population alone constitute 35 percent of the total population. The generation is unique in its way as the behaviour of millennials has been more inquisitive, oriented to self and globalist that are shaped by events of globalisation, and economic stability. These events have made them more conscious of their impact on the environment.

Similarly, the GenZ individuals have been exposed to digitalisation and the internet at an early age and are digital natives, which is why they are communohlic and like to voice their opinions about the injustice done to people or the environment. Witnessing incidents of recession, war, and terrorism since young have shaped their behaviour to be more sensible and practical to the problems that emerged. The consumption behaviour of GenZ individuals entails the usage of brands that are ethical and showcase uniqueness, which is mushrooming new-age entrepreneurs to come up with products and concepts that focus more on sustainability and less wastage.

What are the brands doing to foster the culture of sustainability?

Sustainable fashion brands like Doodlage founded in 2012 by Kriti Tula, upcycles the rejected fabric pieces to create patchwork jackets, delicate shrugs, and exquisite shirts. In a large garment manufacturing factory while stitching apparel a large part of the fabric gets wasted which ends up in landfills or is incinerated, Kriti uses the same pieces of leftover fabric to create clothes.

A fabric after dyeing is washed to remove the excess colours. The chemical dyes released into the water are untreated and are released into the water bodies harming the aquatic life and has a high risk to enter our food chain. Soham Dave’s fashion brand uses dyes made with natural ingredients and after dyeing the fabric he dries them under the sun ensuring minimum wastage of resources.

Beauty and personal care brands are committing to UN’s SDG (sustainable development goals) to ban the use of single-use plastics. D2C Natural personal care and beauty label SoulTree has introduced biodegradable packaging, which can be decomposed naturally with the help of moisture and microorganisms. Once decomposed, the compounds either return to nature or disintegrate, leaving no waste behind.

What lies ahead for sustainable brands in India?

According to a FashionScope report by McKinsey, “Sustainability will gain ground in India, where the local market is projected to reach nearly $60 billion in revenues in 2022, making it the sixth-largest in the world after the U.K. and Germany.” As more D2C brands opt for sustainable packaging, it will open new business opportunities for B2B packaging solutions that offer eco-friendly packaging material. To be more sustainable, brands can offer refill packs that require minimal packaging.

Moreover, there lies an onus with the brands as well where they need to make people aware about using sustainable brands and their impact on the environment. Capgemini’s report says that 88% of consumers in India are willing to purchase a more sustainable product once they are made aware of the sustainability issues.

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Caro Water, Making Clean Water Available in Recyclable Package

Shalmoli Sarkar — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 08:35:10 +0000

The serene beauty of the hills in Manali and Dharamshala are marred with the sight of a humongous pile of single-use plastic bottles. If the average water consumption of humans is approximately 3.7 litres meaning 4 bottles, imagine the amount of single-use plastic generated while travelling as we will sweat more. During the peak tourist season in Manali, the hikers and tourists leave behind a trail of plastic that amounts to approximately 30-40 tonnes of plastic waste each day.

The numbers about plastic management in India are frightening as the study conducted by Un-Plastic Collective (UPC) reveals that India generates about 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, out of which 40 percent remains uncollected and 43 percent is used for packaging, most of which is single-use. Most single-use plastic is recyclable but lacks recycling infrastructure where they end up in water bodies or landfills. On a global level itself, only 9 percent of the plastic is recycled.

Two Hyderabad techies, realising the poor plastic recycling infrastructure and the ever-growing plastic waste menace, have decided to fight it by launching a biodegradable water packaging solution – Caro Water.

What is Caro Water?

Caro Water, started in June 2021, is the brainchild of two techies -Suneeth Tatineni and Chaitanya Ayinapudi, who after working in the corporate for five years decided to start their entrepreneurial journey in the sustainability and environment space, by coming up with environment-friendly water packaging solutions.

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According to Un-Plastic Collective (UPC) India generates about 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, out of which 40 percent remains uncollected and 43 percent is used for packaging, most of which is single-use.

What Does Caro Water Solve?

Being techies, they could have easily begun their entrepreneurial journey in the technology space but what attracted them to create sustainable water packaging solutions is the single-use plastic generated by the distance travellers. A person will buy a minimum of five one-litre water bottles, which will not be collected and recycled. Caro Water packs water in corrugated cardboard boxes that contain 85 percent cardboard and 15 percent plastic – due to nozzle and the coating of the box with rest recyclable.

They have partnered with local recycling units in the city. Caro Water boxes are available in 5L, 10 L and 20 L packaging.

They are also providing clean water fortified with minerals such as magnesium, sodium, calcium and copper that get lost during the filtration process. This initiative was their response to witnessing dirty water cans being supplied to the workplaces raising questions on the quality of water contained in such plastic cans.

How does Caro Water solve the water availability in the outdoors?

Caro Water has developed its app, where a consumer can book their water box and track their order. They also offer a subscription model where water boxes will be delivered as per the requested frequency. The users’ e-wallet is incentivised with Rs 5 upon returning empty cardboard boxes after usage.

What Lies Ahead for the startups in eco-friendly packaging solutions?

The startups in the eco-friendly water packaging space can find ample business opportunities in the below markets:

Catering and food services
Hotels and hospitality sector
Canteens and food courts
Tourist location food joints
Hiking and adventure companies
Film and shooting studios
Offices and commercial spaces
Beverage and juice brands
Sports events

With the emerging behaviour of revenge travelling and workation, the tourist destinations can witness an influx of tourists generating more plastic waste, which creates the market for them. However, the packaging companies should strategise about the effective recycling and collection of packages after usage, easy transportability and handling design in terms of handles and mounting stands. Cost can be crucial since a 20 L plastic costs Rs 25 whereas a water box Caro Water 20 L costs Rs 120 which is almost 5 times.

Besides cardboard, sustainable solutions in packaging are also possible from agricultural resources like corn starch (thermoplastic starch) blended with various other biodegradable polymers of which Aggarwal Biotech is a pioneer.

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