With numerous Apps on our phone, enjoying tasty food is now at our fingertips. Ordering food online is now a way of life. However, the dishes still come packed in the usual plastic bowl with a lid. After finishing our meal, we add to the overflowing landfills when we throw away those plastic containers. Usually made from non-recyclable plastic that harm the environment right from their disposing off. A packaging challenge yet to be solved.
ITC's Paperboards & Specialty Papers team has worked with one of India's most popular desi halwai and snacks makers, who also runs a chain of quick service restaurants, to solve this challenge.
While retaining original flavour, texture and temperature of the food, an attempt was made to create a bowl made with recyclable paperboard. Key to the success was for the paperboard to be able to withstand the tang, spices and grease of food items ranging from Chole to Chow; from Sarson da Saag to Sambar.
The product development team went back to the drawing board and tweaked the base, coating and worked with an associate on a bowl making machine that delivers sealable bowls - thus 'IndoBowl' was born.
Now when you dispose bowls made out of IndoBowl, do so only with a heavy stomach and not with a heavy heart, for this bowl can be recycled!