English professor makes eco-friendly straws from coconut leaves; annual turnover at Rs 70 lakh

What motivated an English professor to make straws and pens from fallen coconut leaves? A keen interest in grassroots innovations combined to empower rural women led Prof Saji Varghese, an associate professor at Christ University, Bengaluru, to set up Sunbird Straws in 2020. 

“I developed an interest in grassroots innovations ten years ago, inspired by a biography of African American agricultural scientist and inventor, George Washington Carver,” Varghese tells 30Stades. 

When he was teaching in a remote village in the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra, he was saddened by the poverty, particularly the farmer suicides. He wanted to make a tangible, meaningful impact on the rural community. 

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“I decided to focus on simple product innovations that could help in wealth creation for rural women and positively impact the environment,” he says.

“One day, I saw fallen coconut leaves on the Christ University campus. The dried leaves looked like hollow tubes. It was a moment of epiphany for me. I thought of making straws from them.”   

Varghese took the leaves home and steamed them like idlis! After steaming, he noticed a shiny substance on the surface. He then enlisted the help of two students of life sciences at Christ to study the waxy substance.

While regular straws have artificial wax, this substance was the naturally occurring epicuticular wax, which provides water resistance and durability. This was confirmed by a study by the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) in Kasaragod, Kerala.

Two Christ students joined Prof Shaji and are co-founders of Sunbird – M G Chirag, who has a degree in space engineering, and U Sandeep, who is qualified in economics.

The trio worked on machines that could roll the leaves into straws. 

The process of making straws involves collecting coconut leaves, cleaning and processing the leaflets, and then shaping them into biodegradable, eco-friendly, water-resistant straws that can reduce plastic use. 

Hub and spoke model

The company follows the hub and spoke model. There are two types of processing centres – leaf processing and straw processing. Both are located in villages. Youngsters in the village collect the leaves and load them in trucks to transport them to the nearest leaf processing centre.   Women do the processing, which involves cleaning and cutting the leaves to a uniform length. 

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After processing, leaves are transported by bus to the straw processing centres. Straw processing involves steaming of the leaves. “For rural women, these centres are just a 10-minute walk to their workplace. This is the key element in providing them a livelihood as they have to manage household chores as well,” says Varghese.   

“We have a nine-member core team and multiple production centres – Bannur in Karnataka, Nagercoil, Tuticorin and Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu and Palghat and Kasaragod in Kerala,” he says.

The sustainable business employs 115 rural women. They earn up to Rs 340 a day, which is a good income in a remote village. They started with earning Rs 140 per day,” he says.  

Unique properties

“The straws are water-resistant and have anti-fungal properties. They are multi-layer and very sturdy and can stay in a hot or cold beverage for more than four hours unchanged. Moreover, you can customise the diameter from 4.78 mm to 11 mm (for boba tea straws). Making the straws is a chemical-free steaming process under strict hygiene protocols,” he says. 

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Sunbird was registered in 2020, just before COVID-19. It was a difficult time for the venture, but Varghese sees it as a blessing in disguise as the team could spend time working on improving the technology. 

Sunbird’s annual revenue touched Rs 70 lakh last year. It had clocked Rs 17 lakh in the first year of operations. 

Straws are a low-priced product, requiring volumes to ensure profitability. Regular Sunbird straws cost Rs 2-3, and boba tea straws cost Rs 4. The products are not mass-produced by machines, as the idea is to give employment to rural women. 

Sunbird is featured in a book on the ‘Honey Bee Network Creativity & Inclusive Innovation Awards - HBN CRIIA-India, 2024’. Honey Bee Network was set up by Prof Anil Gupta, a former faculty member of IIM, Ahmedabad, committed to promoting grassroots innovations. Innovators of grassroots applications can submit their entries to hbncriia@gian.org.

Sunbird was one of five winners out of 1000 entries. “Association with the Honey Bee Network helped us get in touch with various organisations, including the United Nations.  The World Wildlife Fund funded the setting up of the Kanniyakumari centre. Networking helped us widen our impact. We got connected to governments in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands. We plan to set up centres in the Nicobar Islands, which are coconut forests. In fact, 11 states in India have an abundance of coconut trees,” says Varghese.  

Among other accolades, Sunbird has won the Agri India Hackathon on Waste to Wealth, Mass Challenge, Switzerland, and the Swadeshi Start-up Award.   

Top three impacts 

“One, reducing the use of single-use plastic straws. Most plastic straws are made from polypropylene, a material that is harmful to nature. They end up in landfills or damage our oceans and marine wildlife,” he says.

“Two, preventing the burning of coconut leaves, which leads to CO2 emissions and the release of particulate matter into the air. We have prevented 50 million coconut fronds (large leaves with many divisions) from being burnt so far,” says Varghese. 

“A Netherlands institute studied our carbon footprint reduction,” he says. Sunbird has contained 451 kg of carbon emissions and replaced over 20 lakh single-use plastic straws so far.

“Three, Sunbird provides livelihood to rural women. In fact, 66 percent of the rural women we employ had no income-making opportunities earlier. My primary objective in starting the venture was this social impact. Ours is not a seasonal activity like most agri-based activities, as we depend on fallen coconut leaves for raw material. In the monsoon, it is difficult to collect dead leaves, but we keep sufficient inventory in large storage places,” explains Varghese. 

"We started with a tabletop machine that could produce 1 straw in 45 seconds. We have developed a machine now that can produce 120 straws in a minute.”

Since the idea is to give employment to rural women, automation is restricted. “We tread a delicate balance in this regard as the women have to meet the growing demand. And, we want the income earned by the women to keep increasing," he says.

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Supply-side problem

“We do not have a demand problem but a supply problem. Apart from India, we are getting orders from Europe, the US and the Middle East. The buyers want our products transported in containers! One distributor wants 2.6 m straws every quarter. We have received inquiries from over 25 countries. We sell to businesses that resonate with our story,” he says. 

Sunbird sells straws to over 80 hotels in Bengaluru, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and other places. It also exports its products to the Netherlands, Spain and Canada. 

The company conducts rigorous quality checks. But rejected straws are not wasted. They are converted into pens! 

“Our pens are simple pens, not fancy. They are priced at Rs 12, Rs 30 and Rs 100. The Rs 100 pens are mostly for gifting. Around 35 organisations, including the UN, use our pens for conferences. This is another product that reduces plastic use. Also, women can make pens from the comfort of their homes. We have cases where their husbands are bedridden and they cannot work outside their homes.” 

Keeping it simple   

Two other interesting products made by Sunbird are garnishing sticks and burger sticks. They are made from the midrib of the coconut leaves, which is used mainly to make brooms. A simple, small machine curls the midribs to make these products. The SELCO Foundation recently funded Sunbird to make 20 such small machines. They are being given to persons with disabilities to help them make a living. 

Sunbird is also making straws from the cuticles of pineapple and pandanus leaves. “We have started in a small way. These straws are off-white in colour (not brown) and can remain unchanged in a beverage for 100 hours. We are pitching these as a premium ‘green gifting’ product.” 

Traditionally, mats and baskets were made from pandanus leaves. Unfortunately, now the plants are being cut. They are crucial for the ecosystem and help minimise the impact of high tides on seashores. The Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) is striving to revive cultivation of this plant, explains Varghese. 

Roadmap ahead 

The target is to touch 1.5 lakh straws produced in a day in the next three months. “Within the next three years, we aim to employ 500 women. After that, we plan to go on a steep trajectory where we want to enter multiple nations to replicate this model. Production centres in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Madagascar are being planned. Our dream is to make Sunbird the ‘Global Brand of Rural India’.”     

Interestingly, the technology used by the company is in-house. Sunbird has received the Indian patent. The US patent has also been sanctioned. The company is awaiting patents from Europe and Sri Lanka. “We have come to know that across 153 nations, our venture is unique,” says Varghese with a sunny smile.  

(Aruna Raghuram is a freelance journalist based in Bengaluru. She writes about people, environmental matters, parenting, DEI issues, and social/development enterprises.)

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