Overview
- The collaboration targets paper mailers made from crop residues such as wheat straw, bagasse and sugarcane residue that are recyclable and home-compostable.
- Work will take place at IIT Roorkee’s INNOPAP lab, where residues are digested in an autoclave and then washed, screened, pressed and dried to meet packaging specifications.
- The effort starts with 15 months of lab-scale development, with any move to industrial trials and commercial production contingent on successful performance results and targeted for mid to late 2027.
- Amazon and IIT Roorkee position the project to cut plastic use, reduce reliance on virgin or imported wood pulp, curb stubble burning and create a market for farm residues.
- The research is led by Prof. Vibhore Kumar Rastogi and Dr. Anurag Kulshreshtha and builds on Amazon India’s elimination of single-use plastic in packaging since 2019 and its shift to reduced or original packaging for over half of orders.