Best out of Waste

The Sustainable Green Company

Innovation
Mr. Ajay Gramopadhye had a very strong connection with the environment since childhood. This
connection helped him to innovate the products which could use the waste material that is being
generated to create something useful. His innovation can broadly be categorized in 2 phases. The
first innovation done by Mr. Ajay was to make construction blocks using the mud that was generated
during the mining process. He was quite successful in this innovation. His business started running
smoothly just when mining was banned in Goa and he had to take his business off the shelf.

The second phase of innovation started when Mr. Ajay used waste paper such as cartons and boxes
to make a replacement for thermocole and plastic. This waste paper is used to prepare bio-
degradable paper pulp tray. These trays are useful for storing glass bottles, delicate machinery parts
and packaging of appliances such as washing machine, etc. This phase also marked the innovation of
Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB). These blocks are made by compressing the mud and
stabilizing it with lime or cement (95% mud and 5% cement). Mud and cement are mixed in the
mixer and water is added in the optimum quantity. Mixture is then compressed and dry blocks are
ready. Unlike clay bricks, these blocks do not require fire to harden them. Instead, water has to be
poured on these blocks and then wrapped and left untouched for 21 days to let it stabilize with the
cement. Age of these blocks is estimated to be around 400 years whereas age of normal cement
blocks is around 75 years.

Inspiration
Mr. Ajay Gramopadhye was always keen to know more about the nature. He was inspired by the
logo of World Wildlife Fund and joined Nature’s club at a very early stage of his life. Following his
interest, he started reading and learning about wildlife. Within 2-3 years, he started conducting his
own wildlife programs. He went to University of Strathclyde for higher studies and conducted
various awareness programs to provide simple tips like switching off light, closing water taps
properly there. Sometime later he realized that he’s just imparting the knowledge but he himself is
not doing anything for the environment. This is when he wanted to start something of his own. He
used his past experiences and came up with a solution wherein he could make something out of the
waste paper.

Over the years, he realized that quality, ethical practices and determination to contribute to the
environment are the only things that could take him a long way forward. His project was hurdled
multiple times by electricity department and pollution control board but he never gave up. He did
not give a single penny as a bribe to get green signal for his project. He followed his principles and
continued his business in an ethical manner.

Very soon Mr. Ajay started getting projects from various companies. He says,” If you give right
solution to the business, your business will always flourish”.

Overall Impact
The Sustainable Green Company introduced paper pulp trays from the waste paper which is a
replacement for thermocole used for packaging by various industries. The company is also making
Compressed stabilized earth blocks which do not require fire to harden the blocks. The Sustainable
Green Company has created a sense of awareness amongst the businesses regarding the usage of
products which are formed out of the waste material. Businesses have started shifting to these
biodegradable products rather than choosing the products which might harm the environment.

At present, the price of the products sold by the company is slightly higher but Mr. Ajay justifies this
by saying that if we calculate the overall cost incurred by the customers, it would be definitely lower
than the cost that they incur by using cheap and harmful products. The long-term plan of the
company includes manufacturing a wider range of innovative products which would rule out various
harmful products that we use in our daily lives.

Business Benefit
The impact of the products on environment is safe and so is the business on the state like Goa. They
started with Crompton as their first client providing them with the sustainable packaging solutions
and now have managed to get various other clients too. They believe that any business that gives
“solution” to the existing problem can never get low in the market irrespective of the market
demand. The products are tailor-made and so companies that are their clients have specifications
regarding their respective products and accordingly get their part of solutions. The raw materials are
usually from Goa, and mostly are the scrap generated by the companies that are the existing clients,
so it saves up much on the supply-requirement chain and it gets economical for the business too,
making it a win-win for both the companies. Siemens, another client of The Sustainable Green
Company used to order the same materials from UK, but now orders from The Sustainable Green
Company as the quality it used to get from UK is same as the quality of products of The Sustainable
Green Company, making it a pro for the company in terms of growth by recommendations from
clients through word of mouth. In the Early years, the profit used to be less but these days due to
the demand of sustainable packaging options, their profits have been going up. The business is
growing day by day and the company is involved in R&D for more options of packaging.

Social and environmental benefit

The Sustainable Green company is majorly contributing to the below SDGs:

SDG 8-Decent Work and Economic Growth

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

The employees are mainly from Goa which serves as great social impact in terms of giving
employment to state where it has its units. It is achieving high levels of economic productivity by
upgrading in technology and as well as innovation that benefits the ecosystem at the same time.
Through the production of paper pulp tray, the company is extensively promoting inclusive and
sustainable industrialization and thus helping to achieve goal 9.

Being a small-scale industry, this company is involved in reducing waste generation through recycling
and reusing waste papers. Interesting thing is that there is no generation of waste water or sludge.
Another interesting fact is that there is no generation of smoke at all thereby playing a major role in
achieving goal 12 by such sustainable practices.

Major advantage of its product is that they meet ISO 14000 environmental standards as well as the
European Dots. The existing packaging paper pulp tray is biodegradable and eco-friendly with
moulded pulp material. This packing method is used by various manufacturing industries as well as
e-commerce companies. They just accumulate in the form of litter in the environment. Another
factor is its lower cost of production by usage of waste paper for manufacturing purposes. It also
dampens vibrations up to three times more effectively than EPS.