Do you know that, on common, making pure leather-based leads to 17 kg of CO2 emissions per sq. metre? Which means that every bag or pair of sneakers contributes to the discharge of a number of kilograms of carbon dioxide throughout manufacturing.

This raises the query of whether or not we actually want animal leather-based luxurious when it comes at such an environmental price. Regardless of the business’s continued success, many innovators are actually providing eco-friendly and sustainable alternate options to conventional leather-based.

Amongst these innovators is Suresh S R, a 50-year-old areca palm grower from Shivamogga, who has developed a one hundred pc pure, chemical-free vegan leather-based made out of areca leaves and husk.

“I needed to do one thing modern and good for the surroundings as a result of we take quite a bit from nature and provides again nothing. So I considered working in the direction of lowering the huge quantity of carbon emission brought on by the leather-based business,” Suresh, who’s the co-founder of Bhoomi Agri Ventures tells The Higher India.

‘Rising up in nature motivated me’

Suresh was born in a small city in Karnataka referred to as Sringeri. “Coming from an agricultural household, rising up, all I noticed round me was nature. I bear in mind operating round within the farms and feeling blissful,” he says, including that areca palm timber had been plentiful in his city.

Areca plant is a main industrial crop within the southern districts of Karnataka, masking multiple lakh hectares of land. “It was so frequent for us to identify them rising round the home and within the neighbourhood. I’d tear its leaves and play with it,” he says.

Suresh moved to Shivamogga in 1992 and began a enterprise in 1995. He started a enterprise coping with pc gross sales and companies, together with software program growth. “One notable venture concerned creating software program for main land growth banks throughout Karnataka. We efficiently carried out the software program in round 100 branches, and it continues to run efficiently after 28 years,” he informs.

However after finishing a few years within the enterprise, he yearned to discover new pastures.

“Whereas I needed to strive one thing modern and nature-friendly, I used to be unsure the place to search for inspiration. However you know the way the saying goes; you discover good issues whenever you’re not trying! Nicely, that was exactly what occurred to me. I stumbled upon how folks had been making fibre-based leather-based,” he shares.

So deciding to pursue crafting vegan leather-based, he began trying to find an acceptable plant. That’s when his good previous childhood pal got here to his rescue. “I recalled how areca palm leaves grew to become sturdy when dried within the solar and soaked in water. I knew there was potential within the route I used to be heading,” he remarks.

Since Suresh had zero expertise within the area, he began trying on-line to verify if somebody was doing one thing related.

“That is after I found Tjeerd Veenhoven, primarily based within the Netherlands, who shared related pursuits. We collaborated to carry this concept to life, and he grew to become my mentor throughout that interval. He helped me perceive the method of changing crops into leather-based and performed an important function within the analysis and growth of the fibre,” he shares.

“Presently, I export the plant-based leather-based I produce in India to him within the Netherlands, the place he transforms it into a various vary of merchandise,” he provides.

So lastly in 2020, Suresh co-founded Bhoomi Agri Ventures alongside together with his spouse Maithili, and even bought a patent for the expertise.

Vegan, chemical-free and biodegradable   

Suresh informs yearly, they get a yield of roughly 4,000 to 4,500 naturally shed leaves from a single hectare. So there isn’t a want to chop any a part of the tree to acquire the uncooked materials; it naturally sheds.

Speaking about how the fibre is extracted from the plant, he says, “We harness the helpful qualities of areca leaves, which have two sorts of fibres. We extract these fibres and in addition utilise the husk. Beforehand, folks would discard the husk by burning it in gardens or alongside roadsides. I assumed, why not repurpose it as a substitute?” he says.

This extracted fibre is dried after which processed to make vegan leather-based. “We create our merchandise from this leather-based — basically turning what was as soon as thought-about waste into wealth. Up to now, folks used these leaves as firewood, however now they’re being repurposed into plates and varied different objects,” he informs.

Whereas Suresh had cracked the code for utilizing areca, he got here throughout a difficulty.

“The sheet is often round one and a half toes in size and one and a half toes in width. As a consequence of this dimension limitation, we couldn’t create many issues from a single sheet. The sheet wanted to be elongated, permitting for versatile use throughout varied areas,” he shares.

Final 12 months, in Could-June, through the G20 Summit, he was invited by the Authorities of India invited to arrange his stall in Hyderabad.

“And proper beside us was the ICR Calcutta stall. They talked about having a selected gum for the difficulty we had been going through. So I performed intensive analysis on fibre and offered them with all the required knowledge and uncooked supplies,” he shares, including that he developed a biodegradable gum with ICR Kolkata and purchased the rights from the institute.

Aside from their eco-friendly imaginative and prescient, Suresh says additionally they concentrate on uplifting marginalised communities within the area. “I join with the SHGs in and round Shivamogga and my hometown Sringeri to coach ladies in extracting the fibre and stitching totally different merchandise,” he says.

To date, he has been working with 4 Self Assist Teams (SHG), making merchandise, resembling sandals, guide covers, vainness luggage, pen stands, and so forth, with vegan leather-based.

“My buyer base is unfold throughout India and often consists of companies and inns. Nearly all of the consumers are from Karnataka and Maharashtra. Whereas most of them are companies, the merchandise are in the stores in retail and thru our web site,” he provides.

D S Ramesh, who works in a pharma firm, says he was looking out for helpful and eco-friendly merchandise when he got here throughout Suresh’s enterprise. “Sometimes, you’ll solely discover merchandise made with plastic or leather-based available in the market. However when I discovered Suresh’s firm, I bought pen stands in bulk, and all my mates and purchasers beloved it. The merchandise are of nice high quality, sturdy, and nature-friendly,” he provides.

Speaking in regards to the want for these merchandise, Suresh explains, “Our vegan leather-based is akin to conventional animal leather-based by way of properties. Remarkably, whereas producing one sq. metre of standard animal leather-based calls for roughly 23,000 to 24,000 litres of extremely polluted water, leading to round 17 kg of carbon emissions, our various requires solely 500 to 600 litres of water for a similar space. Moreover, our vegan leather-based is reusable.”

He concludes by saying, “Why go for a extremely poisonous product that harms nature when there’s a higher various obtainable? This firm and this leather-based is my method of giving again to the surroundings.”

(Edited by Pranita Bhat; All photos courtesy: Suresh S R)