Balrampur Chini leads India’s drive to replace plastics with sugarcane-based biodegradable packaging, boosting sustainability and innovation.
As sustainability evolves from a boardroom priority to a consumer expectation, packaging has quietly become the next frontier of India’s green transition. With single-use plastic bans tightening and eco-consciousness deepening among urban consumers, demand for bio-based, compostable materials is rising across the food, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and hospitality sectors.
According to industry estimates, India’s sustainable packaging market is expected to grow at over 18% annually, driven by new regulations under the Plastic Waste Management Rules and the government’s push for circular economy models. However, adoption has been slow, constrained by high costs, lack of infrastructure, and limited awareness of viable alternatives, experts note.
That narrative is beginning to shift, as companies start investing in bio-based materials, such as polylactic acid (PLA)—a compostable, food-safe substitute for conventional plastics. Globally recognised as one of the most promising replacements for single-use plastics, PLA is derived from renewable feedstocks such as sugarcane and corn starch and decomposes within weeks under composting conditions.
Tradition meets sustainability
In India, a handful of early movers are demonstrating how sustainable packaging innovation can scale-not in laboratories or pilot projects, but in public spaces and cultural settings where visibility matters most. One such compelling example comes from Balrampur Chini Mills Limited (BCML), which launched an initiative this Dussehra at Shri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, distributing over 2.5 lakh compostable prasad boxes and 1 lakh PLA-based water bottles. Supported by the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, the effort aimed to integrate eco-friendly, food-safe packaging into one of India’s most symbolic religious celebrations.
The packaging, developed under BCML’s Balrampur Bioyug brand, is made entirely from sugarcane-derived PLA and is certified under the IS 17088 compostable standard, ensuring that even the cap of the bottle is compostable. The initiative coincided with the Swachhata Hi Seva 2025 campaign, which merged India’s festive season with the cleanliness mission of the Swachh Bharat programme.
What we wanted to show is that sustainability and tradition can coexist. Large gatherings often generate significant plastic waste, and through PLA, we wanted to prove that eco-conscious choices can seamlessly fit within India’s cultural fabric,” says Vivek Saraogi, Chairman and Managing Director of BCML.
The company also partnered with MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprise) converters and compounders across southern and western India to produce the packaging, effectively linking small manufacturers to a high-visibility, eco-conscious initiative.
Innovation built from sugarcane
The move isn’t just symbolic, says BCML. It is now building India’s first fully integrated “sugar-to-PLA” manufacturing facility, where the entire process-from sugarcane feedstock to biopolymer-will take place under one renewable-energy-powered system. With an annual capacity of 80,000 tonnes, the plant is expected to make bio-based packaging more accessible and cost-effective over time. “The key breakthrough has been the ability to produce PLA at an industrial scale using sugarcane as the core feedstock. This reduces operational friction, enhances energy efficiency, and lays the groundwork for a domestic circular packaging ecosystem,” says Avantika Saraogi, Executive Director, BCML.
Lauding the initiative, S.K. Nayak, Former Director General, CIPET, DCPC, Govt. of India, says, “Impact-driven and visionary & policy-aligned with integrated advanced PLA production technologies like BCML’s, India can become a regional leader in sustainable packaging. BCML offers a scalable path to replace single-use plastics while driving investment, innovation, and green-growth opportunities.
” The, PLA-based packaging costs roughly twice as much as conventional plastics like PET. But the cost gap narrows to about 1.5X due to PLA’s lighter weight and compatibility with existing processing lines. As capacities expand to match standard polymer volumes of 400,000-500,000 tonnes, and with state incentives such as Uttar Pradesh’s Bioplastics Policy 2024, Saraogi expects per-unit costs to fall sharply.
News Courtesy : Economic Times