After a year of thriving business, while on the lookout for a unique eco-friendly product idea to diversify their business, they came across pencils made of recycled paper. It turned out to be a godsend.
"The earth is becoming hotter by the day and we're not doing enough to slow down climate change. While planting trees is good," said Kumar, "it is best to save trees from getting chopped down."
Pencils, his research showed, are one of the biggest reasons for tree-cutting. And, despite competition from their mechanical counterparts and pens, pencil sales grew globally. What's more, there was no one in the city manufacturing eco-friendly pencils.
The production process of ecofriendly pencils is semi-automatic and simple: pre-cut graphite lead and recycled paper are inserted into a machine, which rapidly applies glue, rolls the paper tight around the lead and compresses it. It only takes about two minutes to make a pencil which is sold at Rs 7, about the same as any premium pencil.
They decided to name their pencils "auxo", a play on the word oxygen and launched them a little over a month ago. They sell mostly online and are reaching out to schools, offices and hotels.The pencils come in both bright and colourful patterns as well as in plain grey.
To begin with, they have tied up with a manufacturer in Mumbai."We cannot be sure of the market until we see some demand. We are hoping to set up our own plant in 2017," said Kumar, who is betting on the increasing awareness about global warming and climate change.
Bhuvaneswari Madhanagopal from Chennai, who learnt about auxo on Facebook, immediately placed an order for her eight-year-old son Pranav. "It writes well and is easier to sharpen. Every time you sharpen it, you have the satisfaction of having saved a tree," she laughs.
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