B’luru: A women-only startup makes eco-friendly straws out of fallen coconut leaves

Bengaluru: Evlogia Eco Care Private Limited, a Bengaluru based startup provides an alternative to plastic straws made out of fallen dried palm leaves. These straws are called Kokos Leafy Straws, they are 100% organic and biodegradable drinking straws.

Evlogia Eco Care was founded in 2018 by Manigandan Kumarappan and his wife Radha Manigandan.

Agricultural waste such as fallen coconut leaves that are unused are procured from four farms located in Tamil Nadu – Palani, Dindigul, Madurai, and Ottanchathiram. The discarded coconut leaves are used by Evlogia to make straws after undergoing an intense cleaning process.

The production unit in Bengaluru has employed around 15 women, who look after the entire manufacturing process right from procurement of raw materials to final product. Apart from this Evlogia also provides sustainable work and business to women’s self-help groups, small farmers and other micro entrepreneurs.

The company used to make 100 straws/day but now their capacity has increased to 10,000 straws in a day. The straws are exported internationally across Canada, UAE, Germany, USA.

Evlogia also plans to venture into making plastic alternative for single-use cutlery.