With the general awareness of the issues that are a threat to our ecosystem, more and more brands are coming up with Eco-friendly and sustainable products.
Econiture is one such brand that uses 100% plastic waste to craft its furniture. Their vision is to reduce as much plastic as possible and make Econiture a Global and Sustainable furniture brand.
Let us learn more about their company, brand, founders, and pitch in Shark Tank India.
Econiture Furtinuture
Econiture furniture is made from 100% recycled plastic which diverts plastic waste that would have been destined for a landfill or ocean.
The Econiture Benches manufacturing process does not use any chemicals or color pigment while manufacturing.
They make outdoor furniture like tables, stool racks, benches, chairs, etc.
Apart from their website, their products are also available on Amazon and Wooden Seat. They have a presence in 25 Indian states.
By making furniture from 100% recycled plastic they are solving two major problems.
Most of the furniture is made from wood or metal:
- They have saved metal mining (It has a negative impact on environments like deforestation, erosion, contamination, and alteration of soil profiles, contamination of local streams and wetlands, and an increase in noise level, dust, etc)
- Prevents deforestation.
Let us look at some of their Environment impact statistics
- They have recycled more than 20,000 kg of waste plastic
- More than 24,000 kg CO2 Equivalent mitigated
- More than 2,100 Cu. Ft wood is saved by making furniture from recycled plastic.
Best features of their Furniture:
- Eco-friendly
- Termite proof
- Rust proof
- Waterproof
- Low maintenance
- Strong and durable (They won’t break, crack or rot and can withstand a lot of weight)
Let us look at their process of making furniture:
- Plastic waste is sorted and washed and made into particles.
- Then they are passed through the granules machine (with some research and development they have transformed their granules machine, by removing the head and putting molds. This helps them to save the cost of making granules)
- These plastic particles are then melted to form Lumber, which is used to construct outdoor furniture.
- The recycled plastic lumber is nonporous, nontoxic and a clean product free from any metallic inclusions.
Econiture Founders
Madhur Rathi, Ashish Modak, Bhushan book, and Roshan Pidiyar are the founders and they hail from the Amravati district of Maharashtra. All of them are childhood friends.
The story of the company starts with Madhur Rathi. He did Engineering at Nagpur university and secured a job in Mahindra and Mahindra.
Then he did MBA from Wellingkar Banglore, where he attended Waste Management Conference. It was also attended by a U.S. company named Waste Management King which is a Fortune 500 company. The fact that one can also make money from waste inspired Madhur a lot.
He did research and worked for a waste management company in Ahmedabad. Afterward, he had to come back to Amravati to take care of his aging parents.
There he discussed his idea with his friends and they all agreed to form a company.
This is how Econiture was born.
Econiture Company Details
They started their business with a waste management company named Recycle Bell Private Limited under its brand name RE-BELL.
This company tries to solve the problem of urban waste management by minimizing the amount of waste that’s being sent to landfills. They also aim to increase the number of recyclables recovered from the waste.
They focus on the dry component of the total waste, which constitutes 20-25% of the waste generated and is tough to manage. The operations deal with the collection of dry waste material, its segregation, and selling it to authorized recyclers.
RE-BELL works on the principle of a circular economy where waste is recycled into new products. The ultimate objective of the company is to provide a recycling solution for every recyclable.
The profit in RE-BELL was however only 1 to 2% so they started another company called Econiture. Which sells furniture from recycled plastic.
Sales of the Company
2021-2022- ₹1.3 crores (₹18 lakhs from Econiture and rest from RE-BELL)
In Econiture their gross margin is 65%, in RE-BELL the gross margin is 26%
Sales in July 2022- ₹2.5 lakhs from Econiture
August 2022- ₹4.8 lakhs from Econiture
July 2022- ₹7.5 lakhS from RE-BELL
August 2022- ₹8 lahks from RE-BELL
For the year 2022-2023, their estimate target was ₹50 lakhs from Econiture and ₹1.1. Crores from RE-BELL.
The unit economics of Econiture
- 18% GST
- 30% COGS (manufacturing cost)
- 24% Logistics cost
- 16% Marketing cost
- 12% remaining margin
The unit economics of RE-BEL
- Sales ₹15/kg
- Purchase cost- ₹8
- Collection -₹1
- Segregation cost- ₹5.5
- Margin- ₹1
They are planning to scale their business by introducing adjacent products like bottles, shoes, clothes, shawls, etc.
Social Media Accounts
Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
Funding asked from the sharks
₹50 lakhs for 8% equity
Econiture Shark Tank India
Although Econiture failed to pull any investment from the sharks, they all praised their efforts to recycle plastic waste.
Namita Thapar backed out because she thought that she could not add any value to the business.
Aman Gupta cited the reason for the high logistics cost of pulling out.
Peyush and Anupam said that it is difficult to scale this business and backed out.
Amit Jain also did not make any deal with them but asked them to be in touch and if they are able to scale their business in B2C then he will invest.
Conclusion
A high-level change in the ecosystem can only be brought about when more and more brands understand the need to build a sustainable business. Let us know your thoughts about it.
We do hope that Econiture succeeds in its vision to bring a massive reduction in plastic waste, by supplying products, not in furniture but various other categories.
- Recode Cosmetics Premium quality cosmetics brand at an economical price.
- Haqdarshak app makes people aware of government schemes according to their eligibility.
