Originally reported and written in July 2022, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

Sometimes, the best ideas come to us in the strangest of circumstances. Take Mahesh Agarwal for instance.

The 62-year-old had been working in Delhi for over 40 years, when in April 2020, he made up his mind to move to Mumbai to be closer to his children.

His kids Varsha and Naman, both in their thirties, took a flight to help their father pack his things, among which were antiques, precious items, and many more things that needed to be safely transported from their childhood home to Mumbai.

Like many people do when relocating, the Agarwal family wrapped their belongings in bubble wrap. But they were alarmed by the amount of plastic they had to use, and aware of what problems this would pose for the environment.

The sexagenarian thought there must be an option more eco-friendly than this. “And if there wasn’t,” he tells The Better India, “I would find one.”

“I’d always wanted my post-retirement life to have a larger purpose. I wanted to contribute positively to society in some way,” Mahesh adds.

And his contribution has come in the form of EcoCushion Paper, a Mumbai-based venture that sells eco-friendly packaging to thousands of small businesses. Their honeycomb paper packaging, they say, is 100 per cent recyclable, cost-efficient, and saves up to 80 per cent storage space.

Mahesh explains that in a usual warehouse setting, bubble wrap of 100 metres takes up around 2 ft by 4 ft space, but the paper alternative is thinner and can be compressed, reducing the amount of space required. Moreover, he says with the government banning single-use plastic, honeycomb is starting to turn into a much sought-after alternative, making it cost-efficient.

A family venture in sustainability

Varsha and Naman spent the next few days listening to their father’s ideas of sustainable solutions to packaging. Varsha recounts that one day, after weeks of research, he found one — honeycomb paper.

As he told shared with them over breakfast why he thought honeycomb paper was an ideal solution, they, too, began to see the possibility of a business.

So father, son and daughter put their heads together and started zeroing on paper thickness, the specifics of setting up a business, their target products, etc. “All this was an attempt to understand the product,” says Varsha, adding that they were sure they wanted to start a venture of their own and not simply become resellers.

A big help in the ideation process, she says, was her brother Naman, who had previously worked with a relative in their paper manufacturing........

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