‘CHUK‘ as in ‘throwaway,’ is a well thought-out idea by a Welham Boy alumnus Ved Krishna who runs Yash Papers Limited, in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. For all of us, who have spent time in the lush green cover of Dehradun and Mussoorie, the sheer mountains of plastic that are choking our rivers struck Ved, Sumant and Sujata Paul Maliah. Unlike those who prefer to talk about the adversity of plastic, thermacol and other harmful products but do nothing about it, the trio wanted to make a change.
Set on a mission, Ved went on to produce compostable packaging material that would not harm the planet when disposed. He knew that Nature packages best! One just had to observe, learn and find solutions!
And Voila! he nailed it!
Today CHUK is synonymous with nature conservation. Disposable tableware, made of bagasse (dry pulpy residue after the extraction of sugarcane juice ) is a compostable product which turns into manure after 60 days of being disposed.
To make the product more user-friendly Ved decided to use the lego brick base design so that the products would easily fit into one another. Sujata Paul, tells us, “I was a teacher and had taught Sumant Pai way back in 1997-98 and thanks to social media we kept in touch. I was born and brought up here and have been a witness to our rivers getting chocked and mountains are becoming garbage heaps, Sumant knew about my passion and I came on board.”
Today while Sumant is the Head of Sales for the product, Sujata looks after the marketing of their products in the hill-state. “Initially we did face some resistance from wholesalers,” Sujata tells us, “but now things are improving. We pay 12% GST on the product which I feel should be done away with,” and rightly so.
Today, CHUK has give an alternate to consumers looking for healthy, good quality and not too expensive meal trays, bowl, plates and containers. CHUK keeps food for 72 hours without getting soggy and if that is not all, products are micro-able, freezable and can be used in the oven too.
Departmental stores such as Fresh and Easy, Organic Tree, Wholesale Store, Home Basket, Rajpur Food Truck as well as World of Waffles use their products. Hospitals such as Indresh and Himalayan too have come on board along with Hotels such as Nine Palms in Badripur and Madhuban Hotel and a few caterers following suit.
Today, CHUK markets nine products and is in the process of making more. There are two meal trays: four and five compartments each; three plates 7/9/11 inches, with bowls in two different sizes 180/250 ml, containers used mostly by hotels and hospitals with a carrying capacity of 500/750 ml and the product price ranges from anywhere between 1.50 to 7.50 paisa for all the products.
With private institutes taking the lead, Government departments can’t be far behind. The State Forest Department and the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam promise to use CHUK along the Chardham route this season, a step welcomed by everyone.
CHUK is definitely the next big-thing when it comes to conservation of our environment. And if you too want to be part of this unique initiative then CHUK and its team is looking for passionate, like-minded people wanting to make a positive change by marketing their products.
