Making plant based biodegradable plastics: a story of Ecorrect

By Ketul

Updated 25 Oct, 2024

15 min read

Get inspired by Bindi Patel, Founder & Director of Ecorrect Ltd, as she talks about her journey from making bioplastic at her kitchen stove to now creating 60 tons / month of entirely biodegradable pellets for the manufacture of carry bags!

What does Bindi do at Ecorrect?

The first thing you notice about Bindi is the spark in her eye as she talks about her vision, her mission and her company, Ecorrect. It produces biodegradable plastic pellets made from plant-based material which serves as the raw material for the plastic industry. She is proud to tell us that Ecorrect is certified and completely safe for the environment. She explains that the word Ecorrect denotes something that is ‘ecologically correct’.

Why & how did she start Ecorrect?

It all started with a BSc & MSc in Botany from Gujarat University. In her final year in University, she entered a competition where she expressed a desire to replace a plastic product with a plant based material. A member of the jury questioned if she actually had a plan to make that happen but unfortunately at the time, she didn’t. Over the next few days, her Professor’s question stayed in her mind and she started research on plastic and the harm it caused to the environment. As she read, her interest in the subject grew and she began to dream about the possibilities in the field.

Initial Learnings

Based on her study, Bindi started kitchen experiments at home and would work all night. After about 3 months of manual labour, she made a perfect biobag out of only plant based material! Inspired by this small success, in January 2019, she sought out and got incubation support. It was then that she learnt the ropes of entrepreneurship and realized that she has to go commercial and make her product machine-ready.

Bindi started visiting and exploring plastic industries, learnt about the different grades of plastic, and saw that plastic products were made from granules. She enjoyed this process so much that she fully immersed herself in it and spent longer doing this than studying in college.

Trials and Failures till launch

Bindi reminisces about how her first trial in a local factory was a massive fail – she still remembers the loud explosion that happened when her powder was put into the commercial machine. She realised that it wasn’t as simple as she thought it was. Though the initial failure scared her and put her off a bit, the desire to create a biomaterial didn’t go away. As next steps, she figured she could try the same process in a smaller machine with lower temperatures and it might be more successful. To that end, she started reaching out to various organisations and universities for lab trials (Ceep), leading to 1.5 years of trials. In conversation with a fabricator, she found a small machine that had been thrown for scrap, with a small mixer and extruder that was perfect for her requirement. She purchased it and got it refurbished. She ended up doing a further 2.5 years of trials on this machine. And finally at the end of it she had successfully made biodegradable granules!

Even though every failed trial felt like a step backwards, Bindi kept moving ahead with the belief that even if she improved 0.1% everyday she would reach her goal one day. She managed to fund her research with the SSIP grant from the Government and the Startup Assistant Scheme by the Gujarat Government, eventually registering a patent for Ecorrect.

They launched in March 2023 and are in the market validation period currently, trying to understand the customer and the industry. Their customers have started realising the value of their products and are giving them repeat orders already, both from India and Dubai.

About the material and where it comes from

Bindi explains that bioplastic looks exactly like regular plastic except that it’s made from renewable resources like plant material and food waste. Moreover, you don’t need to cut the plant to extract the raw material – the compound is made from fibre and starch like cotton fibre, corn granules and potato. It also helps farmers by encouraging them to grow plants that fulfill the demand for this new material. Bioplastic also doesn’t create micro plastics like regular plastic does. As per India’s law for bioplastics’ degradation within 6 months, Ecorrect’s bioplastics completely degrades in 3-6 months.

What form is the Ecorrect material in?

Ecorrect makes bioplastic granules in a pelletiser machine specially designed by them. They have managed to create the process such that there is no incubation period before putting the material in the pelletiser machine. This makes the production process entirely seamless for any industry, facilitating millions of tons of production with ease. Their USP is that they are the only company in India actually manufacturing the granules – the rest of the industry imports them from China and makes the final products in India. Ecorrect was born to add value to that gap in the market.

Characteristics of the material

Bindi explains the characteristics of the Ecorrect material and its advantages over normal plastic –

It is very similar to low density polythene and high density polythene plastic, in strength, structure and weight. The final product looks exactly like regular plastic and is of blowfilm grade. It can make any size of bag / product.
It is soil-degradable, of course, and also the first ever marine-degradable bioplastic. If thrown in water, it doesn’t harm marine animals, and Bindi goes so far as to say that even if a child eats the product by mistake it won’t harm them. Ecorrect eliminates all the harmful chemicals in plastic products that lead to illnesses.
Their aim to try and replace all grades of plastic eventually.. Bindi emphasises that their material can be put in the same machine that is used for regular plastic, with only some parameters like temperature adjusted. Manufacturers only have to change the raw material to bioplastic granules and continue using their old machines, making it a super easy swap for them.

Challenges faced in her journey up to here

Bindi takes us through the multiple challenges she and her team faced on the journey from start to today.

She remembers that the manual process making the material was easy but to get from the prototype to commercial scale was a massive challenge. Working close to industrial machines was daunting and so was working with large amount of material. When she wanted to scale up quantities to 20/25 kgs, she realised that home mixers were too small and industrial ones were too large and processes like oven-drying etc were also very complex. It was an exhausting period, when she would stay up all night developing the material then carry it two hours on a motorcycle to the lab for trials.

Another challenge she recalls was when professors at the lab noticed her attempts to make granules from bio materials and see it fail day after day, they would tell her to stop wasting her time and efforts on an impossible task. But she didn’t let it deter her – it cemented in her mind that because it was difficult she had to persevere to finish it – if it was easy anyone could do it! Bindi never let the thought of failure or plan B enter her mind.

The path to setting up the plant, developing machinery and processes to produce 60 tons / month has been extremely challenging but a huge learning as well. What kept her going was the feeling of responsibility that while she was not taking a salary herself she was paying her team a salary and supporting their families in the process. It made her see the value in what she was doing and that buoyed her along.

The Team

Their team is small but capable, comprising of 6 members – 3 plastic operators who handle the machinery, a CEO, an Accountant and 2 plant managers. They are all committed to the goal and willing to put in the effort it takes to get there. Bindi’s aim is to grow a lot in the future, together with a team who understands the value of innovation and R&D.

Progress and next phase

Customers are now starting to see the value in Ecorrect and come back for more orders. Ecorrect wants to be ready for when their customers tell them that they’re willing to shift their entire production from regular plastic to bioplastic. That is the next phase that Bindi and her team are working on currently.

Challenges Bindi foresees ahead

Bindi admits that a major challenge she faces in the Indian market is an awareness gap – people aren’t able to see or understand the benefit of the material yet.

Another is to build Eccorect’s capacity to supply the massive quantity of raw material that the plastic industry needs. She is only able to fulfill a tiny percentage of that today but she believes that they have to get there and they will.

How does she plan to solve these challenges?

Her first step is to focus on shifting one company’s production entirely to bioplastics. She knows that if they can convert one company, it would be much easier to convince other companies to follow suit and to build from there. This will lead to a slow and steady increase in awareness in the market.

Bindi and her team have a well-prepared road map for capacity building ready to go. When she started Ecorrect from her kitchen, it was bootstrapped and all the knowledge that she acquired was hands-on. This makes her confident that she knows every nuance of the job and is equipped to scale up as required.

Shift in Indian market and government policies

According to Bindi, the Indian government is taking a lot of helpful steps like banning single-use plastic and increasing the weightage of the microns of the bags to make them recyclable and create less micro-plastic. Unfortunately, this results in the cost of products increasing proportionately, making it tougher for manufacturers. Customers in the Indian market don’t have enough awareness of biomaterials and their advantages today but she believes that in time, they will get there.

Where does she envision Ecorrect to be in 10 years?

While she has a lot of big plans for Ecorrect, Bindi smiles and says that she doesn’t want to limit her goals right now. Her vision and dream is to take the untrodden path and to be the first one to get there.

Personal sustainability practices

In an attempt to be sustainable in small ways, she has reduced using single-use plastic bags and straws, reuses existing ones and of course uses her own bioplastic bags. Not only that, she also spends a lot of time looking for options to replace single-use products altogether. Realizing the importance of segregating trash and disposing of it properly, she makes it a part of her daily life.

Bindi’s message to young students and entrepreneurs

Her message to young students and entrepreneurs is that if you have an idea or are passionate about something, just go for it! Today, there are a lot more resources and government support available to help kickstart your journey. She urges young people to break the mould of getting jobs that pay the bills and to look beyond yourself. Starting a company that will make a difference is hugely inspirational to others around you and the more people that start doing it, the higher up we can take our country. She ends with saying that each day is a new day and a new possibility to start something. We hope she continues to be an inspiration for people and companies around her to do something for the greater good.

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