Tableware made from Pine needles | Fusion - WeRIndia

While many people are opting for eco-friendly products, several companies are manufacturing innovative products to grab their attention.

Delhi-baed startup Vasshin Composites comes up with an innovative solution and makes tableware from pine needles.

Himachal Pradesh has abundant pine trees. These trees make the land beautiful, but they cause a problem.

The trees shed their needles in summer. Since they are highly inflammable and can catch fire, they cause a substantial loss to the surroundings. Besides, the locals burn trash which worsens the fire and thereby damage the environment.

In this context, Vasshin wants to address the issue and came up with a solution by making tableware from pine needles.

Thus, it solved two problems at one go. Abhinav Talwar and Maithri V founded Vasshin in 2019 to address environmental issues.

The duo initially experimented making products with rice husk, wheat straw, and bamboo.

Then they realized that these materials can be recycled in many ways, but pine needles pose a major threat to the environment. Hence, it will be useful if anything is made from pine needles.

Then, they started making bio-agro compostables with pine needles. Later, they began manufacturing expensive and durable products like coffee mugs, bowls, plates, trays and other such items with pine needles.

Price of these products depends on the item and size. Their coffee mug costs ₹165 and plates are priced in the range of ₹39 to ₹51.

Other products like teacups, food trays, and wine glasses are available in the range of ₹120 to ₹175.

They also began manufacturing face shields during COVID-19 and sold more than one lakh pieces in association with several companies.

Vasshin has production hubs in Baroda, Bengaluru, and Mysuru. They procure raw material from various vendors. However, they collect the pine needles from forests by coordinating with the village forest management committees.

Abhinav and Maithri want to improve their production capacity in future.

Photo by Brett_Hondow (pixabay.com) on Needpix (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Credit: Vasshin

Image Reference: https://www.needpix.com/photo/530343/pine-needles-pine-needle-branch-tree-conifer-fir-evergreen, https://www.vasshin.com/products/square-picnic-plate