Eco-friendly Ganeshas are already trending this year but with Green Gears, the phenomenon has taken a leap. Mr. Singuru Rajesh and his team should be given the credit and veneration. The Assistant Professor of Raghu Engineering College, Visakhapatnam in collaboration with his students pioneering the idea of sustainability by using the Agro-Residues like paddy, wheat, banana, etc. to make environmentally-friendly products.
In an order to curb down the use of single-use plastic and pollution, Green Gears explored all the parallel possibilities and made the maximum use of agricultural wastes to offer a functional solution. After spending substantial years in academics and harking back to his childhood days, Mr. Rajesh realised the immense potential of agro-residual wastes as raw materials for production purposes.
So, apart from making packaging & cutlery items, this innovative venture is also delivering 100% eco-friendly Ganesha idols to keep a state of harmony between man and land!
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To know more about this novel and neoteric initiative, Yeh Hai India managed to have a rewarding conversation with the founder of this Andhra Pradesh based organization.
What made Green Gears rise amid the Grey?
Ironically, Green Gears indeed has its birth from the grey (laughs). Every year, I used to hear about stubble burning and its lethal impact on the environment. The practice of crop burning is not only prevalent in North India but also in the southern parts of the country. The tens of thousands of farmers have little choices because it’s the only option to clear their fields. Moreover, they don’t fetch any income from these waste materials. But this results in the cities to get shrouded in a thick brown smog with toxins.
After scrutinizing both the situation and doing my research, I decided to start Green Gears. It’s an agricultural fix for both India’s poor farmers and pollution. We are supposedly the first to make Ganesha idols from residues to help farmers and nature. Our offerings also include eco-panels for acoustic walls & room insulation and packaging supports for online products such as boxes, egg & vegetable trays etc.
Can you please tell more about the Ganesha Idols?
Our Ganesha idols can be immersed in land and water without causing any harm to the ecosystem. Made from paddy stubble, these idols are decomposed once buried in the soil. Some more advantages are that we add herbal plant seeds inside the idols while moulding- which later becomes plants in soil and in the case of Nimarjan, the idols are converted into algae providing food for the aquatic animals. Lastly, made with love and labor of the farmers, these idols financially empower them too!
What was the inspiration behind this great idea?
Belonging to a family of farmers, I have seen utensils were made from tamarind seeds and old newspapers. As a child I discovered the utility of grains, seeds, grams, etc. in those lightweight yet sturdy products. This made me contemplate more and compelled me to draw a conclusion. If new eco-friendly and sustainable products are made from these residues by farmers and their family members as a small village co-operative society, we can provide a source of income to them during no crop time. So, you can say my humble background was the driving force behind this initiative.
What is your design philosophy while creating products?
It’s quite simple for us. The product should not be answer-oriented, but solution-oriented. In that way our innovation is a solution to agro-residue burning, alternate to single usage plastic products, and pop idols pollution. Furthermore, by blending science and applied technology, we are engineering products adhering to a famous quote that states: “Waste not the smallest thing created, for grains of sand make mountains, and atomies infinity.”
There is a Catch-22 situation that startups have to face on a daily basis, especially if they are self-funded or have limited funding. How do you solve this problem?
Thanks for the thoughtful question. So instead of taking ownership alone, we prefer all the interested parties/entire team to be the stakeholders or equity owners of the start-up. We share trust, risk, profit, and return.
Apart from aiming to be waste-free, what is the upcoming plan?
We are working to provide eco-friendly and sustainable solutions to socio-economic related problems with the aid of science and technology. Till now I have come up with different green solutions to help the farmers. Additionally, I am also working on a project to transform a village into a sustainable village with different Green Technologies that I have designed.
Have the products got the feedback and expected growth since the launch?
We conducted a survey to get feedback from our vendors, users, consultants, and engineers across the end to end life cycle of the product. They helped us to innovate the procurement, engineering, making the product. Green Gears has not attained the status of a startup yet and we are waiting for the right investors to fund our venture.
What one piece of advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Feedback is the most important suggestion I would give any startup enthusiasts. We are always open to listening to each and every person. For their input can be irrelevant, but their feedback needs to be accounted for. When we appreciate taking feedback, we get better inputs to tweak our product to foresee future roadmap of the product. Not to say, individuals also need to have an appetite for thinking out of the box and taking risks.
That was quite an insightful conversation. Staying true to its mission, Green Gears has garnered appreciation from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India with “Nav Bharat Nirman Award-2019” at Indian International Science Festival -2019 at Kolkata on 7th November 2019.
All it takes is one great idea to synchronise sustainability with ecology, economy, and equity. Green Gears is surely inching towards this path with baby steps. On that note, Yeh Hai India wishes Mr. Singuru Rajesh and his dedicated team all the best wishes for their future endeavours.
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