CHENNAI: On the wall, a row of dispensers stand filled with various pulses and grains. Below, on a wooden table, lie various bottles and measuring tools. Customers can fills their boxes by pulling a lever. Ecoindian, which opened their branch in Mylapore last month, is a zero-waste store by Prem Antony and Pradeep Kumar. The 38-year-olds and school friends had adopted a zero-waste lifestyle around five years back and wanted to bring that lifestyle to others. “More than 50 per cent of one person’s waste is due to food packaging. Every person produces around 1 kg of plastic every day.
It is difficult to reduce this plastic waste from food products,” says Prem. To encourage customers to bring their own containers, Ecoindian provides a five per cent discount on the bill. If they forget to bring a container, customers can make a deposit to buy a bottle and get back their money as they return it. Groceries, personal hygiene products and house cleaning items are available here. Customers can buy as much or as little of the products as they want, which Prem explains, is to reduce wastage at homes. Prem’s and Pradeep’s commitment to staying as eco-friendly as possible in their venture goes beyond just containers.
“We’ve asked Auroville to unwrap their soap and give us because the packaging is not ecofriendly. We’re working daily to make our process as eco-friendly as possible,” he says. In addition to this, they want local farmers to have greater standing in the market. They have little cards to showcase the names of all the organic farms from where the food is sourced.
“We want these smaller brands to be able to establish themselves and go against the bigger brands. We want them to profit and grow from their products,” says Pradeep. Prem feels that is it important for the consumer and stakeholders to offer eco-friendly solutions to plastic waste. “We don’t want to be the only store like this. This has to be replicated to every store in your respective neighbourhoods,” says Prem. Ecoindian is located at Ranga Road, Mylapore and is open from 10 am to 6 pm. For details, call: 8124001177