With ‘Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’ on the cards, a Mangaluru-based social entrepreneurship Paper Seed has made tricolour seed badges from areca palm leaf which grows into a plant when planted on the soil after use.
The badges are embedded with vegetable seeds like brinjal, tomato and leaf vegetable like palak. The badges can be planted in the kitchen garden, pots or on farmlands.
“This 75th year of Independence take a pledge to protect the Nature,” says its founder and promoter Nitin Vas, who is also an artist. During the celebrations, the badge can be pinned on any body garment as it has a safety pin behind.
But as containment measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including the weekend curfew in eight districts on bordering Kerala and Maharashtra, are in force till August 16, Paper Seed fears that there may not much demand for the badges as there will be no mass celebrations. Hence it has prepared only about 500 badges for now. “Though we are prepared to roll out more, we are not sure of the demand from schools and colleges,” Mr. Vas told The Hindu.
But a few demands on the on-line mode have come from Delhi and Nagpur to where the badges are being dispatched, he said adding that some have placed demand from Mysuru and Bengaluru.
In addition, Paper Seed now has also made eco-friendly seed rakhi from areca palm leaf for this year’s Raksha Bandhan. They also contain vegetable seeds. Earlier, it had made eco-friendly paper flags for Independence Day. For last year’s Raksha Bandhan it had made seed rakhi from paper pulp and terracotta. About four months ago, it had made seed masks which grow into plants while thrown. It, made from recycled cotton rags and cotton cloth, contained seeds like tulsi and tomato.
Its other latest products included toys made from paper pulp. Mr. Vas named them Mangaluru toys on the lines of Channapatna toys which are made from soft wood. Those toys reflected local culture.
It also makes eco-friendly jewellery, earrings, keychains, ladles, cups from coconut shells, driftwood sculptures, baskets from locally available creepers and climbers. Some of the other products include seed pens, bamboo toothbrush, designed papier-mache, seed paper notepad, paper straw, recycled paper cards, newspaper seed pencils, organic agarbatti, and the like.
