Earth Tatva - Recycled Ceramics

"The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for"

- Ernest Hemingway

in picture: Shashank Nimkar, Founder | CEO at Earth Tatva- Recycled Ceramics

The first thing which comes to our mind when we think of ceramic is probably beautiful aesthetic pieces. Versatile, pretty and fortunately or unfortunately forever... Yes, Ceramic takes centuries to biodegrade, and production rejects end up in landfills for decades. While decorating our interiors, we might not realise and end up degrading our ecosystem which belongs to us all and beyond. Let's meet Shashank Nimkar, the man behind Earth Tatva, changing the industry game with recyclable ceramics.

Shashank's journey from a National Institute of Design student to an entrepreneur started with a college project. While freelancing in ad agencies Shashank witnessed piles of waste on the filming sets. But the ultimate turning point was when he came across the waste in landfills while visiting ceramic manufacturing clusters. That's when the whole ideation of recyclable ceramic came about.

Initiated from Shashank's master's project, Earth Tatva was able to develop their patented recycled ceramic material, TatvaMix, which reduces mining of natural resources by 60% and is 35% stronger than conventional ceramics. It uses less energy to fire, has high-quality aesthetics and most importantly 100% recyclable. "Essentially, doing more and better with less", in Shashank's words. But the way to this wasn't as easy. Shashank conducted numerous tests using various recycled compositions and processes for years. Earth Tatva ceramics are made from 60% recycled ceramics and 40% virgin material.

Shashank dreams about a day we can all take a step forward towards sustainability. He wants to put their innovation out into the market to strengthen the Circular Indian Industrial Ecosystem, as well as globally as they scale up. Talking about his future goal Shashank told us about how he wants to make this material for the potters in the studio. Currently, the material is only suited for industrial use. Soon they will be able to develop the material which can be used for wheel pottery. In this short period of time, Earth Tatva has already received inquiries from Kohler, Fabindia, H&M Home, Reliance Industries, and many more.

Shashank was named a 'Circular Economy Pioneer' by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2019, as well as the national winner of the James Dyson award and the Ekonnect Circular Economy Challenge in 2020. Years of hard work, failures, and challenges‚ We asked him what actually kept him going through it all. "There is no plan B! This is something I find meaning in. As a designer myself, I don't want to make a version of any existing product but to create my own which can be objectively meaningful to everyone. Something that contributes and gives back to the ecosystem" says Shashank.

When asked about Swipe's role in his journey, much to our delight Shashank explains how he got free access to all premium features from the #SwipeForStartups program, which helped many startups in the early days. From Swipe's product catalogue to the ease of collecting payments, "Even in our pre-launch phase, we were able to send professional invoices to our friends and family who bought the product from the online store. The best thing is that you get a QR code embedded in the invoice which makes it easier for customers to make the payment!"

Recently, Shashank won the 'Green Innovation' award at India's most prestigious Awards of Greenpreneur Convention & Awards 2022. Shashank's journey to make Earth Tatva from a college project to an enterprise inspires many who are hesitant to take that first step. Being able to see the bigger picture, he not only shows us the problem, but also came up with the solution of creating an eco-friendly, reusable, and recyclable ceramic. Sometimes not having a Plan B is the key!

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