Serve up some green!

It makes us wonder if we are in plastic-age! Today human beings are extremely empowered but is it for the good of the planet and other beings? Plastic is proving to be a bane rather than a boon because of the negligent ways of humans. Read on to find alternatives to plastic that can still make our planet habitable for future generations.

It makes us wonder if we are in plastic-age! Today human beings are extremely empowered but is it for the good of the planet and other beings? Plastic is proving to be a bane rather than a boon because of the negligent ways of humans. Read on to find alternatives to plastic that can still make our planet habitable for future generations.

Early 1900s: A Belgian chemist named Leo Baekeland creates the first entirely synthetic plastic. Baekeland calls his plastic “Bakelite.” It is resistant to heat and would not conduct electricity, so it is a really good insulator. It has found uses in the automotive and electrical industries emerging in the early 1900s. Now there is no turning back, the plastic-age has started.
Although we know that plastic is harmful to us as well as the planet, we do nothing to do anything about it. One-time use plastic is the main culprit that is mainly used in packaging, be it take-away food or straws or home-delivered goods. What if we could replace this with innovative and yet easy-on-the-pocket alternatives? Here are a few gems that can turn your life around!

Alternatives to Packaging:

Mushroom root packaging: The spore of the mushrooms and the mycelium is used innovatively with agricultural waste to grow packaging that is also shock resistant.

Water bubble: In an attempt to replace the plastic water bottles with alternatives, water bubbles might soon be in vogue. It is made by using a edible membrane of a natural seaweed.

Clear carry bags: There are innovative alternatives which look and feel like plastic bags made from starch and vegetable oil and sometimes a kind of algae. They are transparent and work like plastic bags for all practical purposes.

Alternatives to spoons, forks, and straws:

Plant starch: there are a lot of companies offering spoons and forks made from plant starch and can be discarded after single use.

Edible spoons and forks: This is made from different kinds of flours so that you can eat the cutlery too after finishing your food!

Paper straws: These are easily available and easy on the planet.

Steel straws: If you are a green warrior, then this is for you. It comes with a brush too to clean it up after use. Stock one in your car or in your handbag and you are good to go!

Alternatives to packaging boxes and plates:

As kids we took our own utensils and bags to a restaurant when we wanted a takeaway. But over time convenience has taken precedence. We always suggest you take your own containers to restaurants to pack food, which not only saves the need to replace plastic containers but also is more economical. Visfortec has a range of containers for those times that either you cannot take your containers or there is none handy.

Unique Ingredient

The tableware manufactured by Visfortec is made from bagasse. Bagasse is the leftover agri waste after the extraction of juice from sugarcane. Bagasse is often used as a fuel but in countries like ours, bagasse is not a major source of fuel. These products can be made with other materials like wheat straw, rice husk, starch etc but these materials also act as fodder hence bagasse was the most suitable. Once this tableware is disposed either in your home compost bins or say they reach the landfills, they take about 60 to 90 days to degrade.

Giving back to the community

Samanvi Bhograj is a third generation entrepreneur, who grew up seeing her Grandfather and Father’s Business, which dealt with Steel Forgings. Seeing them provide employment and livelihood to 100’s of people inspired her to create a business that not only had a good product but at the same time had societal value.

A strong believer that women should have financial independence, Samanvi believes that being a working mother is one of the biggest challenges women face. Visfortec helps address this issue to an extent. Apart from tableware they also supply cloth and jute bags that are stitched by women in rural areas. This allows women to work from the comfort of their homes and still make an earning.

• Tips for safer, more sustainable use of plastics:
• Beware of cling wraps especially for microwave use.
• Avoid plastic bottled water.
• Purchase baby bottles and sippy cups or glass options.
• Bring your own cloth bags to the grocery store or any store.
• Don’t buy beverages bottles in plastic.
• Carry your own reusable steel or ceramic beverage container.
• Don’t buy convenience food packages in plastic.
• Buy bread from bakeries that package in a paper.
• Store all your food in glass containers instead of plastic containers.

Pricey plastic

The main reason why people find alternatives expensive is that they compare it with plastic. When plastic was introduced it was not available cheap. However, over the years as the volumes increased the prices came down. Similarly, bagasse tableware was about 50% to 60% more expensive than plastic a few years ago. But now due to the increased awareness and demand that difference is at about 20% to 30%. We see this dropping further in the next 3 to 5 years to be easily affordable. Right now plastic might be the cheaper option, but at what cost?