Want to save trees? Check out these biodegradable pencils!

Edible food colours, fruit flavours and seeds. Here’s how Divya Shetty and Vishnu Vardhan of Coimbatore-based Plantcil are adding fresh flavour to the plant-a-pencil trend

January 19, 2018 03:16 pm | Updated 06:06 pm IST

Did you know over 2,500 wooden pencils can be created from a single tree? And to produce the 15-20 billion pencils needed every year, four lakh trees are cut. Troubled by these alarming statistics, software engineer Divya Shetty, along with friend, Vishnu Vardhan, launched Plantcil in October 2017.

Their biodegradable pencils, made with recycled paper and edible food colours, come in many variants: rainbow, velvet, cartoon, seed, and the latest, fruit pencil, was launched last month. “We make pencils without cutting down trees, and use only waste newsprint. We have saved 28 trees in the last three months,” says Shetty.

Dhivya Shetty and Vishnu Vardhan

Dhivya Shetty and Vishnu Vardhan

If you think their pencils are made abroad or shipped from up north, you will be pleasantly surprised to know they are crafted a lot closer to home. At their manufacturing plant at Avinashi (40 kms from Coimbatore), that employs 100 people, over a tonne of waste paper is brought in every month. “We make 6,000 pencils a day. There is zero wastage as whatever waste is generated gets recycled and goes back into the production cycle,” says Vardhan.

All things organic

Hailing from an agricultural family in Karnataka, Shetty explains why she quit a career in IT to helm two social enterprises. “When I was eight, my grandfather committed suicide due to crop failure. I was affected by this incident and always wanted to do something for our farming community,” says the 27-year-old, who was working with Vardhan at an IT firm in Bengaluru two years ago.

It was in 2015 that she finally decided to make the switch, and launched Indian Superheroes, a social enterprise aimed at introducing people to organic and zero-waste farming, and the rent-a-farm concept — along with Vardhan.

For the first two years, they worked on getting farmers together, and convincing them to make the switch to organic. “We brought in 12 NGOs and self-help groups who taught them the benefits of organic farming and how to market their products,” says Vardhan. In 2017, they launched an online portal, indianorganic.store: they tied-up with over 800 farmers who could sell their produce directly to consumers.

Fruity flavours

During her interactions with farmers, Shetty says, she learnt that deforestation is the primary reason we are facing a water crisis today, and how the water-intensive pencil industry plays a huge role in this. “That’s when we decided to make sustainable pencils inspired by all things natural,” she says. They kick-started Plantcil in a rather innovative way. Rather than source paper from scarp dealers, they started collecting old newspapers from schools in the city and, in turn, provided them with a monthly supply of pencils. “We realised that by approaching schools, children are introduced to sustainable living early on,” says Vardhan.

As the concept of plantable stationery began a few years ago with independent Indian and Chinese brands, Shetty and Vardhan constantly brainstorm for fresh ideas and work closely with their design team. Once provided with a basic sketch for a pencil, the team works on the specific size and shape.

The classic pencils have Indian ethnic prints on them and the seed pencils have plant seeds at their non-writing tip. “We procure native seeds like chilli, spinach, beans, tomatoes and brinjal directly from farmers. Students can plant the pencil and water it. In a few days, a new plant sprouts to life from it,” says Shetty. The rainbow pencils are unique as the shavings are multicoloured and ideal for craft. An attempt at teaching children about the colours and aromas of fruits, their latest range of fruit pencils come in different flavours: pineapple, orange, green apple, cocoa, mixed fruit and pista. “We source fruits directly from farmers in the region and the extracts give the pencils their aroma. They are made-to-order as the extraction process takes a week and the extracts cannot be stored for too long,” she says.

Up next

They are now working on seed pens, all set to launch shortly. Costing ₹7 each, at present the nib and refill is made with plastic, with a cardboard body. They are now researching on how to make it a 100% eco-friendly pen using recycled paper.

Plans are also in place to launch an app, Farm Zeal, next month. “It is aimed at educating people about organic farming. We will be putting up announcements for workshops and gardening activities for children. There will also be an option for people to rent a portion of land to implement what they learn,” says Shetty, who believes there is a growing market for all things organic and is looking at retailing her pencils in Maharashtra, Bengaluru and Chennai.

The pencils can also be customised with a company’s name, and start at ₹6 a piece. Available at Sapna Book House, RS Puram in Coimbatore, Nilgiris supermarket in Puducherry, and online at plantcil.com.

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