Nayanesh Pasari makes a striking impression as he arrives for his interview. Together with his wife, he has built an eco-friendly and sus- tainable brand, reducing 1,35,000 kg of emissions. He says his daughter was brushing her teeth when she suddenly switched the tap off, maturely stating environmental concerns. He and his wife were taken aback. That is when they realised the importance of sus- tainability and the direness of the situation that had been ingrained in his daughters’ mind. Pasari has been in the paper manufacturing company since 2011.

He joined his father’s company that was founded in 1974. After returning from a study-stint in the USA, trying odd jobs and then lending a hand at his father’s company, the aha moment where his daughter turned the tap off struck him as imperative. He mulled about the risks and contemplated costs of starting about a year and a half heading the research and development. Finally the project was born in November 2023. Since then, the company has earned over Rs 5,00,000.

“I was extremely nervous before starting this project. People in my close circle didn’t have faith in the product, I remember telling my team about it and their faces were gloomy and unexcited,” says Pasari. He believes that a large number of people are often unwilling to purchase the product simply because it is brown. “People often have a mental barrier, automatically associat- ing the color white with cleanliness. We have even been told that some customers hesitate to purchase our product, mistakenly perceiving it as dirty.”

Pasari seems to take the bite lightly. He ventured to other countries in hopes of a more validating response but the problem seems to persist. On the other hand, he finds a bright ray in the darkness, simply by looking at his figures. He said, “Packmate’s carbon footprint seems to be about 80% less than the average A4 copier in the market. We have saved over 1,000 litres of water and over two lakh trees in our process.”

What makes Packmate products special is that they deploy 100% recycled paper pulp along with cardboard and used office paper instead of cutting trees Also, their products are unbleached and chemical-free.

Today, Packmate produces register books, notebooks, gift- wrapping paper and in the future they are aiming to venture into tissues. “Brown denotes an eco- friendly look,” says Pasari venturing back to why the colour is important to him symbolically, “If sugar can be wrapped in brown paper, then why can the paper we write on not be brown?”

His stance appears to be validated. He tells a tale that acts as a testament: “Nowadays, children are taught the impor- tance of being environmentally friendly from an early age, but it seems the real challenge lies with those who hold fixed mindsets and resist change."

We were at the Book and Stationery Fair at Pragati Maidan recently. I remember a young boy eagerly approaching us to ask about our notebooks and how they were made from recycled materials.

He was very excited, until his mother pulled him away, "Tum kya karoge recycled paper ka?”

The legacy that Pasari wants to leave behind is evidently of sustainability. In the immediate future, Packmate hopes to manufacture recycled tissues, paving the way for a company that is able to meet all sorts of sustainable needs. “The best part of being an entrepreneur is that every day is a new day, and with that come new ideas,” Pasari signs off.