Environment

What sustainability? Small businesses find it a ‘hassle’ to be environmentally conscious

Not many among India’s 63 million MSMEs are inclined to go the sustainable route. A lack of adequate ecosystem support, government incentives and high costs act as deterrents. Achieving India’s sustainable goals would be near-impossible without factoring in the requirements of the small businesses.

When Sainath Jain started his men’s grooming brand, Hivado, in Bangalore in 2020, the idea was to build an environmentally conscious brand in the segment. He made aluminium the primary packaging material and ensured that plastic is only 10% of the packaging. But Jain hit a roadblock very soon.

“We eradicated plastic as much as we could initially. However, the delivery system in India is not efficient. Our aluminium packages were getting spoiled.