<div>On the flight back from Ahmedabad to Hyderabad, in 2007, the environmental scientist Narayana Peesapaty looked at the food served to him in plastic crockery and wondered the plastic waste it generates every day all over the world. The thinking time that flights offer, he started brainstorming on the alternatives for plastic utensils. </div><div> </div><div>This idea transported him back to one of the hot afternoons on the farm where his team had used sorghum (jowar) roti as a spatula to eat daal. The jowar roti was so hard that they kept it dipped in the thick curry but it didn’t become soft as they finished their lunch. </div><div> </div><div>That day Narayana Peesapaty landed in Hyderabad with his big entrepreneurial idea – using flour to create disposable utensils. </div><div> </div><div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wi8hrtIYBTI" width="560"></iframe><br><br>By the end of 2007, he left his job as a Senior Scientific Officer with International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad to focus full time on creating eco friendly utensils. Cutlery being the simpler, smaller of the utensils, he started focusing on developing that. </div><div> </div><div>He worked for three years from his home kitchen to develop the right recipe for cutlery. He could make spoons, sporks and chopsticks from a mixture of different kinds of flour. He used a certain proportion of millet, jowar (sorghum), rice and wheat which he kneaded with water. </div><div> </div><div>The higher proportion of jowar flour is deliberate. Peesapaty shares,“During my research, I learnt that one of the main reason for groundwater depletion is the reduction in cultivation of dryland crops like jowar. One of the ways I want to help is by creating its demand through my products and increasing its consumption.”</div><div> </div><div>He added some spices too, cumin and rock salt so they can be consumed after use. If not consumed, they can be discarded by throwing in mud or in potted plans to decompose, which usually takes between three to seven days. </div><div> </div><div>This edible cutlery has absolutely no vegetable and animal fat or any form of preservatives or emulsifiers. It is then baked at over 200 degrees to reduce the water content to 1.75 per cent. This gives the spoons and sporks the shelf life of three years, says Peesapaty. </div><div> </div><div>With the prototype ready, in 2010, he took a loan from the bank of Rs 4.5 crore to purchase the machinery to manufacture it at a commercial scale. Currently, he uses the technology used in biscuit factories but, Peesapaty says, he is working to develop a fully customised integrated system to develop his edible cutlery. </div><div> </div><div>They started selling the product in November last year from their website, organic stores and organic bazaars. In less than a year, Peesapaty claims, they have reached monthly sales of Rs 2 lakh and most of the demand is from households . But, his plan is to get caterers for parties and marriages onboard since it is at large-scale gathering the consumption of plastic utensils is huge. </div><div> </div><div>He is now working to develop a knife but hasn’t been able to crack its recipe yet. “Plates, bowls will also be introduced but it will take a while before I develop the workable, practical model,” says Peesapaty. </div><div> </div><div>So, before we gorge on the plates, we will be content with eating the spoons and sporks that he sells at Rs 4 per piece.</div><div> </div><div>The company is looking to raise funding to start manufacturing units across the globe. </div><div> </div>
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