This startup is making biodegradable and sustainable substitutes of single-use products: Beco

Have you ever thought about what will happen if we stop using single-use products like tissue papers, dinner napkins, toilet rolls, facial tissues, tissue rolls and instead use a natural substitute for it? Can you imagine? Awesome right. A Mumbai based startup Beco consumer goods company which was founded in 2018 by Anuj Ruia, Aditya Ruia and Akshay Varma offers products for the kitchen, home care and personal use.

Everything started when a beach clean-up in Mumbai made the trio Aditya, Anuj & Akshay wonder how environmental damage is REAL. They found an orange wrapper looking at which one of their parents instantly recollected that it was that of a Chocolate Bar which was discontinued in the 1990s. Shocked, are you? That was exactly their thought. A small plastic wrapper existed for so long. Imagine the impact of plastic products we use in our daily lives. The mega plastic ban was the moment of enlightenment for them which led to the rise of Beco  A company that is eco-friendly inside-out. All of it is based on a simple yet strong realization that Every plastic article we use will come back to us in the future.

It is a 100 per cent eco-friendly and zero plastic company. Since its establishment, it has become a community of more than 100000 members who have helped reduce the usage of plastic by 25% in daily life. The company boasts a product range of a wide variety of household items that are produced from cornstarch and bamboo without any padded plastic component. Starting from reusable kitchen towels, compost garbage bags, to bamboo toothbrushes and travel kits all of the products are chemical-free and non-GMO verified.

By adopting a sustainable way of production and packaging it has managed to save 500 tonnes of plastic waste that would have been generated from production and sales. Anuj Ruia, the Co-Founder, told in an interview with Business Standard that, “One of the major challenges that came our way was managing the cost of raw materials and eliminating plastic from packaging. To tackle the problem, we have a sustainable production and packaging model in place, however, we believe the support from our investors will further accelerate our vision and build a stronger repertoire of sustainable products with zero-waste.”

In July of last year, it was able to raise 4 crores in a seed round led by Climate Angels Fund and other investors including Titan Capital, Better Capital, Rukam Capital, Sequoia Sprout, and Richa Kar (Founder of Zivame). With this added support Beco aims to increase its sales and encourage them to switch to a sustainable way of lifestyle. Anuj Further added  “Our ultimate aim is to help every individual contribute towards saving the environment and to do so, we need to expand our distribution and customer touchpoints across cities. We are thankful to our investors, who are helping us to strengthen Beco’s positioning by encouraging us to continue to create eco-friendly alternatives to reduce the impact on our environment.”

Akshay Varma, Co-Founder, Beco told in his interview with Business Standard that. “Our goal is to provide affordable sustainable products for daily use and break the notion that eco-friendly products are expensive. Through this funding, we would be able to optimally invest in product development, distribution, and operations and take Beco to every household.”  The company aims to expand into tier-2 and tier-3 cities. All of its products are available on its website, e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Big Basket, Nykaa and others as well. Their offline presence spans 1,500-plus stores in India.