Rhea Kothari and Rishika Reddy of The Mend Packaging are into recycling 28 types of waste, from coffee husk, cardboard, bagasse, Ayurvedic tablets, banana waste to make gift box packaging. The two are also experimenting with banana leather, made from fibres extracted from crop waste, to create eco-conscious packaging. Commonly used items in this venture are recycled corrugated board, bioplastic, and rigid board. They operate from New York and Hyderabad.
Terraform and banana fibre are innovative materials across various industries. Recycling reduces the need for raw material extraction leading to less mining, drilling and logging activities. Also, the energy and water used in recycling is lower to processing raw materials. This helps reduce landfill waste and cuts down methane emissions from decomposing materials. Recycling reduces our reliance on finite natural resources.