Environmentalism sparks this entrepreneur's 'paper seed' business
loQal –19 July 2011
QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA- Caring for the environment provided entrepreneur Ethel Francisco the inspiration to put up her unique paper business.
Ethel, a self-proclaimed tinkerer, started the Paperpod Seed Paper Company in 2010 after she found a way to make use of bundles of disposed paper items stacked and left unused in her home and workplace.
“I really think nature in itself is doing the work, I just stumbled upon the idea in believing that there is always a greener alternative, something that would lessen our carbon footprint,” Ethel says.
Her unique idea of growing plants through seed paper sheets soon became an instant hit when she finally went full-time with her green venture.
Ethel’s handmade recycled paper product was a borrowed concept from the US but to give it more use, Ethel thought of adding garden plant and vegetable seeds into the product.
“I figured if people are going dispose these paper products, they would still at the very least, give something back to the environment,” she says.
According to Ethel, the process starts with the breaking down of disposed paper materials such as book sheets, used bond papers and magazines. She then adds water so that it becomes pulpy, adds starch to bind it back, mixes dye needed for her product’s color coding system, places it in a mold and then sprinkles seeds onto the sheets before she leaves it to dry.
Ethel says the paper products can be used as a greeting card or invitation card for weddings or as a non-messy alternative to the conventional way of growing backyard plants.
Her items are classified into Notepots (P100), Seed Sheets (P40), Wishes Grow (P70) and Bloompaper (P80). To grow the seed sheets, one must dampen it, place it inside a plastic bag and leave it for 10 days until shoots start to grow. Depending on the weather and the season, the plants grown from the seed sheets normally take six months before it reaches full maturity.
Ethel assigns colors for the kinds of plants each color grows. For now, Ethel has seed sheets for tomatoes, chili peppers, moss rose, carrots, and eggplant. In bazaars where Ethel usually sells her unique green product, she says she has been getting a considerable level of enthusiasm and interest from customers.
Ethel says she is eyeing partnerships with private companies for the use of her paper seed sheets as consumable items like coffee holders or clothes tags. Regardless of who helps her promote her products, she says the important thing is that she gets her green message across to more people.
“Even if they don’t buy it, letting consumers know that these kinds of products exist gives me a sense of assurance that my business is helping people know more about caring for our environment,” she says.
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Ethel, a self-proclaimed tinkerer, started the Paperpod Seed Paper Company in 2010 after she found a way to make use of bundles of disposed paper items stacked and left unused in her home and workplace.
“I really think nature in itself is doing the work, I just stumbled upon the idea in believing that there is always a greener alternative, something that would lessen our carbon footprint,” Ethel says.
Her unique idea of growing plants through seed paper sheets soon became an instant hit when she finally went full-time with her green venture.
Ethel’s handmade recycled paper product was a borrowed concept from the US but to give it more use, Ethel thought of adding garden plant and vegetable seeds into the product.
“I figured if people are going dispose these paper products, they would still at the very least, give something back to the environment,” she says.
According to Ethel, the process starts with the breaking down of disposed paper materials such as book sheets, used bond papers and magazines. She then adds water so that it becomes pulpy, adds starch to bind it back, mixes dye needed for her product’s color coding system, places it in a mold and then sprinkles seeds onto the sheets before she leaves it to dry.
Ethel says the paper products can be used as a greeting card or invitation card for weddings or as a non-messy alternative to the conventional way of growing backyard plants.
Her items are classified into Notepots (P100), Seed Sheets (P40), Wishes Grow (P70) and Bloompaper (P80). To grow the seed sheets, one must dampen it, place it inside a plastic bag and leave it for 10 days until shoots start to grow. Depending on the weather and the season, the plants grown from the seed sheets normally take six months before it reaches full maturity.
Ethel assigns colors for the kinds of plants each color grows. For now, Ethel has seed sheets for tomatoes, chili peppers, moss rose, carrots, and eggplant. In bazaars where Ethel usually sells her unique green product, she says she has been getting a considerable level of enthusiasm and interest from customers.
Ethel says she is eyeing partnerships with private companies for the use of her paper seed sheets as consumable items like coffee holders or clothes tags. Regardless of who helps her promote her products, she says the important thing is that she gets her green message across to more people.
“Even if they don’t buy it, letting consumers know that these kinds of products exist gives me a sense of assurance that my business is helping people know more about caring for our environment,” she says.
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