KUANTAN: In an effort to reduce plastic waste, traditional Indian sweets seller B. Sri Themudu has come up with a creative Deepavali hamper packed in attractive wooden boxes.
The 36-year-old is offering the Indian sweet treats in wooden boxes which can be later used as multipurpose storage containers.
The father-of-two said apart from promoting the exotic Indian sweets and flavours, he has decided to reduce the use of plastic and paper when designing the gift hampers.
"Last year, when I prepared Deepavali gift hampers, I noticed the use of a huge amount of plastic. I then decided to introduce sustainable packaging this year where the sweets are packed in glass jars before being arranged in wooden boxes according to customers’ preferences.
"I managed to reduce between 70 and 80 per cent of the plastic materials without compromising on the quality of the sweets. I have decided to maintain the prices for the gifts while introducing environment-friendly and reusable gift boxes," he told New Straits Times.
Sri, who now manages the Malaysian Indian Authentic Sweets and Diwali Gifts Online Store, said the wooden gift boxes, which come in various sizes, are custom designed to cater to consumer’s needs.
"The boxes can be used to store keys or women’s ornaments while the small bottles can be washed and reused. The material will certainly help reduce waste and in fact, this has been a concern among some customers these days. They even want the gifts to be environment-friendly," he said, adding the gift sets were priced between RM10 and RM400, depending on the size of the box, type of sweets and quantity.
The Masters in Entrepreneurship holder, whose customers include corporations from abroad who place orders for their clients in Malaysia, said among the popular sweets were adhirasam, a traditional doughnut pastry, "chinipagu" (brown sugar coconut truffles), Boondhi Laddu, Mysorepagu and Rava Ladoo.
Speaking on his business, Sri, who works as a sustainable development education programme consultant, said he has a 12-member team which help him prepare the traditional Indian recipes to meet orders.
"My team consists of elderly women who are experts in preparing the traditional sweets. The business has created jobs and allowed women, especially housewives with a penchant for baking, to earn extra income.
"Once the order list is finalised, the sweets will be prepared within 48 hours to ensure freshness before they are neatly packed and delivered to customers," he said, adding he was inspired to start his business by his mother A. Maletchumy, 66.
For details, visit www.facebook.com/Malaysian Indian Authentic Sweets & Diwali Gifts Online Store or www.deepavalihamper.com