MAKING MARVELOUS OUT OF THE DISCARDED

‘Nature Bio Foods comes together with 8 other corporates to upcycle crop waste to make packaging and other products’ – & thus another initiative towards sustainability.

Nature Bio Foods signed an agreement with the Indo -Dutch Sustainability Forum, INDUS bringing together 9 corporates including likes of MARS to transform agricultural waste in the form of crop residue (paddy straw) into new products such as sustainable paper and packaging material. The Forum is an initiative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the CSR Netherlands along with the supply chain actors, experts, solution providers and market players in a partnership.

Rice straw is waste from rice plants that is often incinerated after harvest, resulting in smog, causing respiratory problems and other diseases. Burning fields also affects the quality of the soil, robbing it of vital nutrients. This residual biomass [e.g paddy straw] is potentially a valuable resource for high-end reuse and up-cycling. The agreement serves as a framework to cost-effective inflow of straw from the rice fields, high-quality production facilities in India, a well-developed market, a fair price for all parties involved and attention to sustainable production on the rice fields themselves.

The model is based on key guiding principles of Circularity of the agricultural waste, the Accessibility of the product at competitive prices to the end users and corporate market, delivery of Socially Responsible product, produced in a fair way which shall incorporate above average wages, reasonable working hours, access to medical care etc. The system strives to avoid any environmental damage and minimise carbon foot print. Transparency in products and production conditions and also pursuing the ripple effect by actively inviting the other organizations to join the initiative for scaling and co-creation.

Sustainable business models like these are Organic way ahead.

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