In 1999, Ved Krishna inherited Yash Papers, his family-run paper business, which was then manufacturing pharmaceutical papers, paper bags for food chains and sugar sachets for coffee chains.

But, in 2019, the company was rebranded as Yash Pakka, transforming itself from a pulp and paper company into a sustainable packaging one.

Seeing the amount of garbage generated due to this paper, Ved had an epiphany and researched on ways to create compostable tableware.

After years, his research led to the birth of Chuk in 2017, which makes products from waste sugarcane fibre.

Their plates, bowls, containers, lids and more are compostable while being microwave, oven and freezer friendly.

The Ayodhya-based venture sources waste sugarcane fibre from sugar mills in a 100-mile radius around them.

“We make it into pulp through a standard pulping process which is used for papermaking and then mould it into different shapes to be able to make plates and bowls that can be used as disposables,” explains Ved, the company’s strategy head.

They serve quick-service restaurants, cloud-based kitchens and delivery service providers.

Their biggest customer is Haldiram’s, and they are very active with other ventures like Chai Point, HMSHost, Starbucks, Shree Datta Snacks, Kamath’s Food and MTR.

Chuk is essentially sugarcane pulp with a percent of chemical which stops water and oil from seeping out.

“If it’s disposed of properly in a compost pile, it will completely compost in about two months. If an animal eats our cutlery, it’s not a problem. All that an animal eats is sugarcane fibre,” he claims.

Chuk’s factory has a manufacturing capacity of 1 million pieces of tableware per day, adds Ved. The unit is fuelled 100% by biomass, he claims.