For them, sustainability isn’t just a word

Smridhi Chawla

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 9

As we grapple with and become victims to climate change that has put into question the capitalist development model globally, there is still hope for the world with entrepreneurs in pursuit of sustainable business practices.

A tidbit, so you may know

A Canadian start-up, ChopValue, recycles old bamboo chopsticks into a stylish range of homewares and furniture. The idea came to founder Felix Böck due to his aversion to waste. Since 2016, more than 32 million chopsticks have been saved from landfill and turned into new products. Source: Internet

Among those who go beyond the notion of self is Chandigarh-based Anesha Dhaliwal, who owns a chocolate brand named Jar Pantry.

“Sustainability is at the core of our work ethos,” she says. The chocolates are wrapped in unwaxed food grade paper. These go in glass jars adorned with cloth ribbons made from waste trimmings. The kitchen is set up with glass crockery and cupboards made from waste wood. This is how she is trying to bring about a change in her own little way.

For Patiala resident Bankim Bhagat, the founder of an IT start-up, Codify Apps Private Limited, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how you do it. “Our firm has developed a restaurant management software. We offer it for free to cafes promoting vegan and organic food.”

“Act now or you’ll do later, cutting our dependence on meat and dairy products is the way to reduce our ever-increasing carbon footprint,” he adds.

Making her contribution, Anesha quips: “To compensate for the carbon footprint generated by imported Belgian raw chocolate, we add manure to saplings planted by the civic body to help nurture them.”

When city’s Reet Sawhney co-founded WODE, a watch brand, she had just one thought in mind – there is enough for everyone’s need, but not for anyone’s greed. So, her product revolved around minimalism.

“For our product, we use surgical grade steel that is 100 per cent recyclable. Packaging is our focus area for driving the sustainability goals. The idea was to discourage the act of disposal and pair the watch with something just as timeless. Hence, all our watches are housed inside a book that makes for a charming company as opposed to a box that will take up space in your closet before finally landing in a bin,” says Reet.

For businesses with values, ways may be different, but they echo a similar sentiment – every drop counts to save the environment.