With the increasing demand and use of plastic in a variety of industries in today’s world, we see that plastic has been a threat to the nature simultaneously. With its properties of being water-resistant, thermally stable and economically beneficial, every industry in the world is not ready to replace plastic packaging with any other alternative like jute bags, cloth bags etc until and unless they get the same material equivalent to plastic but with a greener motive. Also, plastic obtained from crude oil takes 1000’s of years to completely biodegrade.
Hence a passionate enthusiast with his objective to make India #plasticfree, started his startup BioReform Pvt. Ltd creating the packaging material which is not just similar and equivalent to plastic bags but also is made from a renewable source, unlike plastic. Founder & CEO Mohammed Azhar Mohiuddin from Hyderabad, India pitched this idea of manufacturing green plastic from corn starch and other renewable starches which completely biodegrade in less than 180 days at Edventure Incubation Foundation competing with more than 300 student entrepreneurs and were successful to be selected in the top 10 student start-ups.
He started BioReform in the year 2022 and has been successful in replacing around 3-4 lakh plastic bags per month with the BioReform bags. They also provide customization options to their customers so that they can use these green bags with their personal brand tags printed on it. It wasn’t a cakewalk for Mohammed Azhar to take his stand in the plastic market. In an interview with CNN-News18, he states how he faced various customer challenges while keeping a foot in the plastic market. Although, he had his first business customer who believed in his idea and appreciated his effort to make the Green India dream a reality and gave him several chances to prove how significant his product is in today’s world.
Mohammed Azhar and his team have gone through several hardships but their objective to make India #plasticfree fuelled their passion and today they are successful entrepreneurs building BioReform, conducting awareness campaigns and encouraging industries to use biodegradable BioReform bags and to replace plastic bags completely with it. In the interview, he also mentions that his personal motivation was also to financially support his family to the fullest so that his hardworking father based out of India could come back to his family and retire from the financial responsibilities.
Well, we might wonder what makes BioReform comparatively better than other alternatives and equivalent to plastic bags. BioReform biodegradable and compost bags are firstly made from renewable sources like corn starch and can completely degrade in a span of less than 180 days. These bags are also water-resistant, thermally stable and have got good plastic properties which can be used by industries which makes it equivalent to plastic. Alternatives like paper bags or cloth bags have got their own disadvantages. For example, paper bags are not water-resistant and cannot be used for carrying dairy or wet products and cloth bags are quite expensive when compared to the affordable BioReform bags. Hence, similar properties with greener objectives and a larger picture to make India #plasticfree is what makes BioReform unique.
Every start-up faces challenges and achieving a goal built from scratch isn’t a one-night success. In the year 2022, BioReform faced the challenge of failing to attract customers due to being a little expensive when compared to the traditional crude oil based plastic bags. But later the Indian Government came up with an initiative for plastic management by creating the 120 micron thickness rule which came into effect in India in the month of January in the year 2023 which prohibited use of of plastic bags which were less than 120 microns; this became a life-changer for Azhar and his team. BioReform was already manufacturing bags which were of minimum 120 microns thickness and today it holds a significant rank in the plastic market. A 1 kg BioReform biodegradable bag contains around 75 pieces which is more compared to the 1 kg traditional plastic bag made from crude oil. Hence, these bags are also called bioplastic because they are similar to plastic but are renewable and biodegradable.
A well thought business plan which is being executed by Azhar and his team instills a spark in all young individuals to think of business ideas changing the world for the better with simultaneous business profits.
Many more Indian startups like Phool.co by Ankit Agarwal and Prateek Kumar from Uttar Pradesh (who collect flower waste from temples and mosques to create eco-friendly packaging material out of it preventing these flower waste and toxic materials from entering the Indian water bodies), Kabadiwala.com by Anurag Asati and Kavindra Raghuwanshi ( work based on the SaaS model to sort the waste management sector collecting around 100 tonnes of waste every month), Greenevon bio bottles by Nikhil Kumar(make 100% biodegradable bottles made from sugarcane that are similar to plastic but decompose completely in 180 days), Go Do Good by Khushboo Gandhi(make eco-friendly bubble wrap and biodegradable coatings from agro-waste for desserts packaging), Kalyana Kumar from Coimbatore (manufactures complete plastic free containers that can be used in food industries and can also be consumed by cattle since these food containers are made from banana leaves, millet waste) etc.
Many Indians from all across India have taken power in their hands with the objective to make Green India dream a reality. Only thing which gives wings to their dream is their passion to make India a better place to live for us and for the generations to come.
We as audience or fellow Indians can help these start-ups by purchasing from them, raising awareness in society about climate change, carbon emissions and the steps we can take to contribute our part to our country and nation as a whole.
I believe the first step to solving a problem is to understand and learn about the cause of the problem and then take necessary steps to solve it. These start-ups don’t just give us a solution but also instill confidence and courage within us to make meaningful contributions to the world.