: Biotechnologists Startup Turns Stubble Into Eco-Friendly Packing Material, Earns Rs 15 Lakh/Year #IndiaNEWS #Madhya Pradesh Pooja Dubey Pandey from Indore, Madhya Pradesh is a biotechnologist who

@newsMNC

Posted in: #IndiaNEWS

Biotechnologists Startup Turns Stubble Into Eco-Friendly Packing Material, Earns Rs 15 Lakh/Year #IndiaNEWS #Madhya Pradesh
Pooja Dubey Pandey from Indore, Madhya Pradesh is a biotechnologist who has worked at various research institutes, including the National Institute of Virology (NIV), during a fellowship.
Her research work involved travelling to places such as Mumbai, Bhopal, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. This in turn exposed her to a variety of issues.
In 2015, with ten years of experience in research, she quit her job to care for her child and returned to her hometown. She wanted to start something of her own, but her aim was not to find a new job. Instead, she decided her work will focus on two issues lack of nutrition in marginalised communities, and pollution caused due to stubble burning.
For a solution, she zeroed in on mushrooms, which come with high nutritional value and can be grown using stubble. “I worked on mushrooms during my postgraduation and PhD. This, coupled with numerous visits to farms, taught me a lot about the value of mushrooms,� she tells The Better India.
So today she is addressing both these issues with her startup, Biotech Era Transforming India (BETI).
Eco-friendly packaging from stubble
Pooja working at her Biotech Era Transforming India (BETI) lab.
With limited funds at her disposal, in 2016, Pooja decided to convert her basement into a laboratory to yield high quality spawns and cultivate mushrooms. “In 2017, I formally launched BETI,� she says.
“Working in government institutions with resources and advanced technology is a unique opportunity. However, research work in the lab takes years to reach the beneficiaries. The startup was the only way to work directly with beneficiaries and share my expertise, thereby offering immediate results,� she explains.
The 38-year-old began cultivating mushrooms using stubble, and selling them in the market. “I used whatever knowledge I had gained during my postgraduation, which also taught me about how stubble can be used to grow mushrooms,�she says, adding that this way, farmers could prevent stubble burning.
She also started roping in farmers, offering high quality spawns to help increase their income. However, she soon realised that the mushroom packaging involved the use of styrofoam or plastic, a conventional practice among the community.
Wanting to find a more environmentally viable solution, Pooja then went back to her drawing board. Using her biotechnology skills, she created an innovative, eco-friendly packaging material made from stubble. “I used pathogens and bacteria to decompose stubble. The decomposed matter was processed and converted into simpler compounds, which made it easier to bind. The material obtained was used to give the desired shape,� she says.

Latest stock market news Twitter alternate of India

Flash it Bury this

0 Reactions   React

Replies (0)

Login to post a comment!