Agro Composite is making tableware with Pine Needles sourced from the Himalayan mountains!

Offering ecologically conscious products at an affordable price, Agro Composite has a wide range of unbreakable tableware like coffee mugs, Salad bowls, drinking glasses, and more!

Abhinav Talwar who is the founder of Agro Composite grew up in Himachal Pradesh where he witnessed forest fires all his childhood. During summers the trees shed their highly inflammable needles causing the forest to burn, and that's why Abhinav always wanted to do something about it. He started experimenting with pine needles which later led to the birth of his company Vasshin Composite. This environmental engineering company is creating an emphasis on the reduction of plastic from everyday use products. Agro Composite is a brand under Vasshin that promotes a sustainable lifestyle with its gorgeous Anti-Microbial and eco-friendly Tableware.

" Every year the forest fires causes damage to the environment, with the heavy emissions of harmful gases like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Our products are capturing these carbon emissions 9 times higher than any biomass-based product.", says Bhoomi Thakkar, ORM at Agro Composite.

From wine glasses to kitchen containers, Agro Composite offers many tableware products. The design is classy, they are made of authentic Himalayan Pine needles and they assist in saving the Himalayas from forest fire incidents. The brand follows a standard Injection molding process ( a process of manufacturing by shaping liquid material using a rigid frame) for making these unbreakable products. Once the bio base and the composite is ready, it goes for injection molding. " With our efforts, we have been able to clear 10 hectares of forest land by picking up pine needles.", she added.

Sourcing and the Process!

Now if you are wondering how do they source these pine needles, it will surprise you that it's a 100% manual process. The local workers there collect them, which are then packed in compact blocks and sent into the manufacturing units in Bengaluru, Mysuru, and Baroda. " Since the trees are located at a very high altitude, the pine needles need to be picked by hands. At a time only one tribal man would be able to pick up and come down with the needles. There are no roads that could go high up to those areas.', she said.

Agro Composite is one of those few brands that have a three-tier line effect. It means they have a social, economic, and environmental effect through their work. The total production that they have done to date has been an output of 270 man-days. (Man-days is the time in days that a person requires to complete a task)

Diversifying its product range, Agro Composite is now coming up with more anti-microbial products. " Our toothbrushes get composted in water and when you put it in your garden, it returns to nature with time. It dissolves and becomes carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. This is our way of trying to change people's habits.", she added. The packaging of all their products is also bio-degradable and uses cardboard. During the pandemic, team Agro introduced anti-microbial masks and distributed them to over a Lakh of people.

Working with a team of 23 people, Bhoomi believes that young entrepreneurs don't have to live in FOMO. She urges them to just lift their people and the environment. " If you see 200 years back, life was difficult. But, now we have resources in the form of the internet, finance, loans, and everything necessary to grow a business. So, I'd like all the young entrepreneurs to keep the last 200 years in mind. Make it easier, and do something for your surrounding. It would be very cliched to say do things for the planet, but at least help people around you. You don't need to have a unicorn start-up. Just lift your people and the environment.", she said.

Also Read: Do earth some favour and buy sustainable products from these eco-conscious brands online!

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