TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF

Fallen areca nut leaves get a new lease of life as biodegradable tableware, creating rural livelihoods, empowering women, and offering a sustainable alternative to plastic

- By PUJA MAHANTA

ARINDAM DASGUPTA, 46 Tihu, Assam

In a remote corner of Assam, where the rustle of areca nut (tamul in Assamese) leaves falling to the ground went mostly unnoticed, Arindam Dasgupta spied something different.

Where others saw waste, he saw possibility. That vision gave birth to Tamul Plates Marketing Pvt Ltd in 2010, a social enterprise founded not in the boardrooms of big cities but in the heart of rural India, with a simple idea and three friends who chose purpose over predictability.