Sugarcane Waste Can Do More Than Make Paper: 4 Indian Ventures Turning It Into Useful Products

After sugarcane is crushed for its juice, a fibrous residue called bagasse is left behind. At sugar mills, heaps of this material can be seen awaiting their next use. While some bagasse is already used to generate energy or make paper, it also holds potential for products that can replace plastic — and even become a source of protein.

Across India, entrepreneurs and young innovators are exploring these possibilities. From compostable plates and takeaway boxes to fermentation-based protein, here are four ventures finding new value in sugarcane waste.

1. Chuk: Turning sugarcane fibre into compostable tableware

When Ved Krishna returned to his family’s paper business in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, he began questioning the environmental cost of conventional food packaging. Plastic-coated and laminated materials were widely used, yet their disposal posed a growing problem. In 2017, his family’s company, Pakka Limited, launched Chuk to offer an alternative.

The brand uses bagasse, the fibrous residue left after sugarcane juice extraction, to manufacture plates, bowls, food containers and other tableware. The fibre is processed into pulp, which is then moulded into finished products. The resulting tableware is designed to be sturdy enough for everyday food service while offering an alternative to conventional plastic and Styrofoam disposables.

Chuk’s products are used by food and hospitality businesses, including Haldiram’s, Starbucks and Chai Point. According to the company’s earlier reporting, its tableware can decompose within approximately 60 days under suitable conditions. By giving sugarcane residue a second life, Chuk demonstrates how an agricultural byproduct can become a practical replacement for disposable plastic products.

3. Ecoware: Packaging that can return to the soil

After witnessing the scale of plastic pollution in India, Rhea Mazumdar Singhal left her pharmaceutical career in the UK to work on an alternative to single-use packaging. She founded Ecoware in 2010, building a business around plant-based food-service products.

Sugarcane bagasse is among the principal materials used in its range of plates, bowls, trays and takeaway containers. The fibre is converted into pulp and shaped under high heat and pressure using precision moulds. Ecoware says its products contain no plastic lining, adhesive, laminate or coating, allowing the material to break down naturally under suitable conditions.

The company reports that its products can biodegrade in soil in around 100 days in the presence of microbes. Its range is designed for practical food-service needs, including serving hot meals and packing takeaway orders.

Ecoware’s approach addresses two problems at once: the accumulation of disposable plastic and the underuse of agricultural residue. By offering businesses and households a plant-based alternative, it helps make lower-waste food packaging a more accessible everyday choice.

3. Dinearth: Making sustainable food packaging more accessible

Dinearth, a sustainable packaging initiative founded by Harsh and Jani, backed by Abhinav Industries, brings bagasse-based alternatives to the food-service sector. The business draws on its parent company’s experience in food packaging to offer products designed for restaurants, takeaway counters and catering businesses.

Its manufacturing process begins with sugarcane bagasse sourced from sugar mills. The residue is converted into pulp and pressed into moulds using heat and pressure to create disposable food packaging. Its catalogue includes plates, trays, bowls and takeaway boxes, offering businesses alternatives to plastic and Styrofoam containers.

An important part of this approach is making the switch practical for smaller food vendors, not just large restaurant chains. Dinearth’s EcoDine range has been presented as a more affordable line of biodegradable tableware, with reported prices starting at around Rs1 per unit for select products.

By combining familiar food-service formats with plant-fibre materials, Dinearth seeks to make alternatives to conventional disposables easier to adopt across a wider range of businesses.

4. Kinva Bio: Exploring sugarcane waste as a source of protein

What if agricultural residue could help meet the demand for protein? That is the question behind Kinva Bio, a venture developed by students Nitish and Gulshan Kumar at the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management in Haryana.

Instead of turning bagasse into a disposable product, the team is exploring how fungal fermentation can convert agricultural byproducts into mycoprotein, a protein-rich material produced using fungi. Sugarcane bagasse serves as one of the potential feedstocks.

The process combines biotechnology with artificial intelligence. Fungal fermentation converts the biomass, while an AI-powered digital twin helps predict protein yields and optimise production conditions. The aim is to develop a way of producing protein that could require less land and water than conventional sources.

Kinva Bio remains an emerging innovation rather than an established, large-scale food producer. Its work nevertheless points to another possibility for agricultural waste: using biotechnology to turn low-value residue into a potential food resource.

Sources:

‘Ayodhya-based CHUK is turning sugarcane waste into sustainable cutlery for Indian Railways, Google, Amazon’ by Rashi Varshney for YourStory, Published on 30 December 2020.

EcoWare

Dinearth

‘From Sonipat to the Future of Food: Two Young Innovators Turn Crop Waste into Sustainable Protein’ by samsung Newsroom India, Published on 18 October 2026

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