Bengaluru Brands Creating Rice Husk Tableware & Drinkware for World Environment Day

Over the years, designers and manufacturers have explored a range of eco-friendly materials such as bamboo, cane, and wood. Now, they are agri-waste such as rice husk and wheat straw are being turned into cutlery, planters, pet bowls, and more. We explore three Bengaluru brands working in the segment:

Sippers and more 

It was about a year ago when Nipun Jain decided to help tackle the growing crisis of single-use plastic pollution. A former business developent professional, he launched Turtle Tales — drawing from the Olive Ridley turtle’s circular journey back to its nesting beach — with eco-conscious everyday products crafted from rice husk. “Our mission is to reduce the carbon footprint of individuals and communities by offering sustainable alternatives to everyday products,” says Nipun, the founder-CEO. 

Today, they offer products such as cups, mugs, water bottles, and sippers in their range called HuskMade. These products are made from husk sourced from rice mills in Karnataka, and we “have plans to integrate directly with rice farmers within the next eight to 10 months”. This, Nipun says, will create a new revenue stream for farmers.

Elaborating on their other offerings, Nipun explains how EcoScript has 100% recycled paper products such as notebooks, diaries, and stationery, and Optiknit features T-shirts and hoodies crafted from recycled materials such as polyester and cotton. As an agricultural by-product that often goes to waste (sometimes through burning, releasing carbon emissions), utilising rice husk is a form of upcycling, he says. “This reduces the demand for virgin materials and our manufacturing processes for HuskMade products generally have a lower carbon footprint compared to traditional plastic production,” adds Nipun, “Having said that, these products are not marketed as fully compostable or biodegradable in a typical home composting setting. However, we are investigating the potential for 100% compostable granules for future HuskMade applications.” The team also offers a buy-back option for the rice husk products. 

Now, Nipun is researching and developing 100% compostable granules derived from rice husk “for potential future product lines and investigating packaging solutions for large listed companies seeking sustainable alternatives”. 

Products upwards of ₹100 on turtletales.eco/

Child-friendly cuppas

Eha’s journey as a brand started during the pandemic years when founder Mahadev Chikkanna created bio-composite face shields. “This experience revealed that large corporations need more time to incorporate bio-composites into their supply chains. Individual consumers, however, were eager to adopt sustainable alternatives in their daily lives provided the quality matched conventional products at comparable prices,” says Mahadev, who now offers products designed from crop waste such as rice husk and forest waste like bamboo fibres and pine needles. 

The rice husk range comprises drinkware (insulated coffee mugs, glasses, chai cups, water bottles), and tableware (serving bowls, curry bowls, storage containers, snack bowls, cutlery, storage jars, kid-friendly plates, etc). “The carbon footprint of our bio-composite products is measurably lower than the products they replace. Additionally, our manufacturing process generates virtually zero material waste,” says Mahadev, who also offers closed-loop recycling programmes “where we collect used products for processing at our facility”.

Currently, rice husk is sourced through Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), and their technology “can be extended to other agricultural waste streams such as rice and wheat straw”. This approach, Mahadev says, has the potential to increase farmer income through effective supply chain management. “For context, each acre of rice or wheat cultivation yields about 1.5 tonnes of grain and 4.5 tonnes of crop waste. While farmers earn approximately ₹30 per kilogram for grain, our model can potentially generate an additional ₹5 per kilogram for crop waste that would otherwise be discarded or burned.” 

With plans to launch more new ‘home’ and ‘lifestyle’ categories, Mahadev also aims to make the adoption of bio-composite material mainstream. “Our R&D continues to explore the use of crop-waste such as rice husk through bio-composite materials for packaging, construction, industrial applications, and automotive solutions. While we initially focused on decarbonising plastics, we’re now discovering opportunities to reduce or replace other carbon-intensive materials including ceramics, steel, and glass,” he says.

Products upwards of ₹300 on eha.eco/

Ramen bowls and brushes

For siblings Ibhatta Jayarama Sanjana Bhat and Sooraj Ibhatta Jayarama, their schooling at Krishnamurti Foundation of India laid a strong foundation for their relationship with the environment. “That foundation slowly shaped the belief that sustainability shouldn’t be a luxury. It should be part of daily life,” says Sanjana. In 2021, a few months after she graduated college and a short stint in the corporate world, the duo launched Irida Naturals with the aim of making that belief a reality.

“We wanted to build a brand that made sustainability more accessible, through products that were practical, well-designed, and genuinely rooted in circular thinking,” she says of the brand that crafts tableware, drinkware, and homeware from agricultural by-products like rice husk and wheat straw.

Their rice husk-based products such as dinner plates, soup bowls, ramen bowls, cutlery, etc. “are made for long-term, everyday use”. “By working with agricultural waste instead of fresh natural resources, we help reduce environmental extraction and directly lower CO₂ emissions,” adds Sanjana.

“Our products are not biodegradable, and that’s intentional,” she says, “Our rice husk products are heat and water resistant, and, at the end of their life, fully recyclable through standard plastic recycling streams.”

Explaining that the rice husk is sourced from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, she says the husk is first cleaned and ground into a fine powder. Then, it is blended with plant-based binders and food-safe polymers to form a durable, moldable material. “This composite is used to manufacture our products through injection moulding: a process we’ve designed to minimise waste, recycle excess material, and operate efficiently at scale.” While these products are “slightly more expensive” to manufacture than mass-produced plastic, when compared to premium wooden alternatives, “our pricing is competitive”, she says. 

Now, the duo are looking at expanding their kitchen storage range, and adding organisers, eco-friendly pet accessories to their range. “We’re also developing hybrid materials that combine rice husk with other natural fibres to enhance strength, design flexibility, and maintain recyclability,” Sanjana says.

Products upwards of ₹299 on iridanaturals.com