Narrator: This is called bagasse.
It's what's left over
from processing sugarcane.
About a third of the plant
becomes waste as it's refined into sugar.
During the harvesting season,
India produces enough
of this sweet-smelling pulp
to make these giant dunes,
around 100 million metric tons every year.
Narrator: Now, one company is transforming it
into plates, bowls, and trays
that are designed to break down
in a backyard compost heap.
Plastic stays forever.
So it's not going to go anywhere.
In our case,
if you throw it,
then it'll disintegrate in three months max.
Narrator: But does this kind
of plant-based alternative make a difference
if it still ends up in a landfill?
We went to Uttar Pradesh, India,
to see how Chuk is making
biodegradable tableware from worldwide waste.
Polystyrene was discovered in 1839.
Announcer: And it's 10 to 20 times lighter
than the fluffiest meringue.
Narrator: It wasn't used
for plates and packaging
until more than a century later,
as fast food chains went global.
But recycling has never caught up.
That's apparent across India,
where an amount of plastic equivalent
to the weight of the Taj Mahal
ends up in streets and waterways
every two weeks.
Landfills across the country
are filling up without government oversight,
creating unsafe conditions
that can lead to fires.
The idea behind Chuk
is to replace some of that plastic
with biodegradable sugarcane waste.
India is the world's second-largest
producer of sugar,
making more than 25 million metric tons in 2020.
And that means mountains of bagasse.
KM Sugar Mill alone produces
over 3,500 tons of it per day
during the harvesting season.
It can be tough to work with.
Narrator: Most of this material
will be burned to produce electricity.
It's a low-pollution alternative to fossil fuel.
Narrator: But it has other uses, too.
We were told this is a very good
fiber for molding.
Narrator: For over 40 years,
Ved Krishna's family turned
sugarcane waste into paper
in a factory owned by his parents.
They named it Yash Pakka,
and their company slogan
is "Packaging with a soul."
But the business ran into financial troubles
and had to deal with faulty equipment.
Ved: We didn't know whether the company
will run the next day or not.
What I realized was that
all the work that I wanted to do
was towards the ecology and environment.
Narrator: Ved went back to the drawing board.
He spent years experimenting
with new ways to use bagasse.
Eventually, we realized that, you know,
we have sugarcane pulp,
and that can be molded
into different products,
which can actually be used
as a replacement for these styrofoam products.
Narrator: And by 2017,
the company was producing tableware products
under a new brand, Chuk.
Ved: Chuk was really good
because, of course,
it was about disposable.
You can chuck it.
It was also good with "chakh,"
which is "taste" in Hindi.
Narrator: Ved set up shop
near sugar plantations and mills
to keep costs and the carbon footprint low.
Around 100 truckloads of bagasse
arrive at the Chuk factory
every day during peak harvest season.
It can take two hours
to unload each truck.
Ved: If the material dries out,
the fiber loses strength,
so we have to keep it in wet piles.
Narrator: Workers then remove
a layer of the tiniest fibers
before washing and pressure-cooking it.
Ved: Same concept as you cook
dal in your home,
the same way you cook bagasse.
You use a certain alkaline product
to be able to remove the stickies.
You know, if you think of a sugary product,
it's a little sticky.
Narrator: The alkaline solution
helps make it moldable.
Workers wash the sludge again
to remove any residual chemicals.
Then they distribute it
into different machines
and molds that press it into shape,
squeezing out all the water.
Other companies bleach their products,
but Chuk decided against it.
Ved: We were told in the market,
Indians don't like to eat in brown.
It has to be white.
But I said no.
If we are true to our
basic idea that we want
to be more ecologically sustainable,
then we have to stay
with lesser and lesser chemicals.
Narrator: Chuk also sources
a starch-based compostable packaging
for its products
instead of virgin plastic.
Ved: We of course realized
that our whole ecosystem, DNA, world
revolves around the idea
of leaving the Earth cleaner.
So if that is the case,
and we package in plastic,
then we've defeated the purpose.
Narrator: Workers like Sheelawati
check the finished products for quality
before counting and packaging.
Narrator: The Chuk factory can crank out
1 million individual items in a day,
and that's only half of what Ved
says is possible with the current setup.
Ved: We are still figuring out
a lot of the technology.
Narrator: By the time they reach consumers,
Chuk products end up being
about 20% more expensive
than items made from plastic.
Chuk's meal tray costs 10 rupees, or 13 cents,
while a plastic tray costs
around 8 rupees, or 10 cents.
Another reason Chuk costs more?
Ved insists on paying
his staff a living wage.
Ved: I think we are very proud
of having lots of local people.
More than that,
we are proud of having 50% women,
and they're amazing.
Narrator: Some women, like Sheelawati,
can make up to 10,000 rupees a month, or $131.
That's nearly double the minimum wage
in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Narrator: So far, Chuk hasn't turned a profit,
but the business continues to grow.
Over 3,000 restaurants across India
have used the company's tableware.
The pandemic was a major setback.
Sales dropped by 70%.
Ved: If restaurants shut down, we shut down.
So that's a challenge,
but we are trying to now change our model
where we are also trying
to go direct to customers.
Narrator: So Ved plans to set up
an online store
and make their products available
in retail locations.
And he hopes to ramp up his business enough
to support India's war on plastic.
Starting in July,
the country will ban many plastic items,
including the kind
of single-use food containers
that Chuk wants to replace.
So are products made from bagasse
better for the environment?
Probably.
Chuk recommends leaving its products
for 90 to 180 days
in a backyard composting bin
that maintains moisture
and good oxygen flow.
But they can still harm the environment
if they end up in a landfill,
where they won't decompose as fast.
Plastic, on the other hand,
never really goes away.
It just keeps breaking down
into smaller and smaller particles.
Ved is just one of many
entrepreneurs around the world recycling waste
into food containers and utensils.
Lifepack in Colombia
makes compostable plates
out of pineapple crowns.
Narrator: In Mexico,
Biofase creates bioplastic cutlery
out of avocado waste.
And in Denmark,
a young innovator is making
edible cutlery and bags
out of potatoes.
And it will likely take
all these companies and more
to manage plastic waste
now and into the future.
So I believe each of us
can make a difference.
It's only a 70-year-old challenge.
Typically, the plastics that we use,
the cheapest varieties
last about 500 years.
So you can imagine
that first bugger
still has 430 years to go.