Surat Woman’s Tree-free Paper Startup Is Recycling 140 Tonnes Of Waste A Year

“Every time a tree is cut, a part of me aches. Trees are life-givers, and it is our duty to protect them,” says Rituricha Jain.

The old tree she grew up watching, near her house, was majestic. Towering and wide, it had stood for decades on a patch of land in Surat where a commercial building was about to rise. Ritu saw it every day, and when she found out it was going to be cut, she tried everything, including offering to take the tree with her, but nothing worked. One morning, she saw that it was gone. “I still remember the hollowness I felt that day. There were no words, just grief,” she expresses.

What makes her story unusual is not just her passion. It is the winding and deeply personal journey that took her from a promising career in biotechnology to the world of handmade paper — and eventually, to building ‘Paperdom’, a venture rooted not in ambition, but in meaning.

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After completing her MSc in Biotechnology, she went for a fellowship at IIT Bombay to pursue a PhD. It looked perfect from the outside — a path most people would dream of. But inside, Ritu felt increasingly disconnected.

While her peers spent long hours in labs, she found herself drawn to life outside the campus and participated in music trivia nights, cultural festivals, and community volunteering. “That is where I felt most alive. I was always out, engaged in something that had colour and energy,” she tells The Better India.

After a year of watching her drift further from academic life, her professor asked her if she wanted to continue the course. “I didn’t even think twice. I realised that I was not made for the course, so I packed my bags and came home to Surat,” she admits.

Can you make paper from elephant dung?

The next couple of years were all about confusion and discovery for the entrepreneur. “Everything I had studied for seven years suddenly felt irrelevant. I didn’t want to go back to science, but I did not know what I wanted either,” she says. She dabbled in various pursuits, working with an art gallery in Ahmedabad, launching an NGO chapter for Yuva Unstoppable in Surat, and helping her father at his printing press, all while trying to discover something that would help her follow her true calling.

Surrounded by banana plantations and textile factories in Gujarat, Ritu noticed the waste materials and wanted to do something with them

Then one day, while working on a creative project at the NGO, she stumbled across something unusual: paper made from elephant dung. “I was stunned. It was usable and beautiful at the same time. The texture, the finish, everything was quite different,” she says. 

That discovery made her question that if making paper from elephant dung is one possibility, what other natural materials could be used? She started researching, and her path eventually led her to Sanganer, Jaipur, a town famous for its centuries-old handmade paper traditions. It was there, among vats and fibres, that she began to imagine what her future might look like.

Her vision began to take form in 2012. Surrounded by banana plantations and textile factories in Gujarat, Ritu noticed the abundance of waste materials around her, like discarded banana stems after harvesting, and stacks of cloth cuttings from garment factories. 

These byproducts, often dumped in rivers or left to rot in fields, seemed like a resource waiting to be turned into something usable. “I grew up seeing paper all around me in my father’s press,” she says. “But I had never thought about how it could be reimagined.”

Paperdom is built on the foundation of environmental responsibility, artistic curiosity, and purpose

That question stayed with her. Could the waste she saw all around — the banana stems, the textile scraps — become something more? Banana fibre, she noticed, was strong, lightweight, and already used in textiles — qualities that made it surprisingly well-suited for papermaking.

Around that time, she crossed paths with a few architecture students from CEPT, and they began exploring the idea together. They registered a company, started working with banana fibre and textile waste, and designed early products in a small makeshift studio.

“At that time, I did not think of building a manufacturing unit,” she recalls. “The plan was just a creative space, a small studio where we could experiment.”

That changed in 2013 when her father-in-law offered her a modest sum of Rs 3 lakh and told her to follow her passion. Her husband, too, stood firmly by her side. “We knew our market. We knew what we wanted to make. So we took the plunge,” she recalls.

She was told ‘no’, but she learnt to make it a ‘yes’

Thus was born Paperdom, though the name came later, the spirit of it had been forming for years. Built on the foundation of environmental responsibility, artistic curiosity, and purpose, the company began creating paper not from trees, but from banana fibre and textile waste, materials that were intrinsic to Surat’s ecosystem and waiting to be recycled.

“I always say, our raw material was all around us. It just needed a different lens,” says the 40-year-old entrepreneur.

The early years were not smooth for the young entrepreneur. She remembers going door to door, trying to convince distributors and traders to carry her paper. “No one cared about sustainability back then. They only asked — how much does it cost?” Her handmade paper was more expensive than the mass-produced varieties flooding the market, and her eco-pitch often fell on deaf ears.

All the raw materials are cleaned and pulped using a Hollander beater before being turned into paper

The challenges were not just restricted to production cost. “Being a woman in this industry came with its own set of battles,” she says. “Vendors would not take me seriously. They thought I would cave easily in negotiations.” In the beginning, she often did. But over time, she learnt to stand her ground. “I realised that saying no was just as important as saying yes and that my work had value,” she adds.

To add value, she began introducing design elements like block printing, zari coatings, embroidery, and screen printing, elevating her paper into something not just functional, but aesthetic. The shift worked. Slowly, clients began to notice. 

Designers and printing presses in Surat and Mumbai started placing orders, and Paperdom found its footing. “Between 2017 and 2019, the business was doing well. In addition to our handmade papers, we began creating custom boxes and paper bags, increasing our offerings and building strong relationships with our clients,” explains the entrepreneur.

When the world paused, her business took a new turn

Then came the pandemic. In 2020, the world shut down, but something surprising happened. “People started calling us, asking if we had colourful handmade papers. They were stuck at home, doing crafts, journaling, making things,” she says. The demand exploded. That unexpected interest gave her a fresh idea — what if Paperdom wasn’t just a supplier of paper, but a creator of beautiful things made from it?

By 2021, Paperdom had launched its full range, which includes more than 70 products

Realising the potential, Ritu pivoted from selling paper to creating finished products, like diaries, planners, DIY kits, and greeting cards, all made in-house using their handmade paper.

By 2021, Paperdom had launched its full range, more than 70 products, priced between Rs 150 and Rs 1500. Hampers went up to Rs 3000. A retail store in Surat, complete with a cafe, followed. And what had once been a paper company evolved into a full-fledged lifestyle brand, selling directly to customers and corporates via their website, Instagram, and marketplaces like Amala Earth, Brown Living, and Amazon.

The heart of what makes this company so special is not just its product line, it is the scale of its environmental impact. Every month, the company recycles 12 to 13 tonnes of waste, which is around 140 tonnes a year.

Banana stems that would have polluted rivers and cloth cuttings that would have ended up in landfills are now part of carefully crafted planners and journals. “We are trying to give banana fibres and textile waste a second life and a new story by manufacturing stationery,” shares the founder.

All the writing papers are made from textile waste because it is soft

The process itself is a careful blend of art and science. Raw materials are cleaned and pulped using a Hollander beater and then shaped into paper using two different techniques. One is the traditional Sanganeri vat method, where people lift sheets by hand. 

The other, more modern approach uses cylinder moulds, faster, but still rooted in the craft. 

In this method, while the paper is still lifted manually, the actual formation of the sheets takes place on machines. These machines are equipped with large rollers and conveyor belts, where the pulp spreads out evenly and begins to take shape. As the conveyor moves, the rollers apply pressure to remove excess water and compress the fibres, helping the paper to take form.

“We use both techniques, depending on the design and texture we want,” she explains. “We also make sure all our writing papers use textile waste because it is soft. “Banana fibres also add an earthy texture, and we love it on our covers,” she adds.

An opportunity for banana farmers and local artisans

All the printing and binding is done in-house, using machines she once saw as a child in her father’s press. It is a small operation, about 10 people currently, but growing. She is already planning to reintroduce block printing and is in talks with traditional artisans to collaborate on new collections.

“They have been calling me, wanting to work together. As soon as my designs are ready, I will bring them in,” the founder says. She supports local farmers in Surat by sourcing banana fibre directly from them.

Karsanbhai Thakore, 48, from Rajpipla, shares how things have changed for farmers like him. “Earlier, we would just discard the banana plant after harvesting the fruit; most of it went to waste. Now, instead of dumping it, we extract the fibres and sell them. It has become an extra source of income,” he shares.

All the products are priced between Rs 150 and Rs 1500, while the hampers go up to Rs 3000

He explains how this small shift has made a noticeable difference. “We are not just earning from the fruit anymore. We are using the whole plant. That extra money helps us meet household needs, things like school fees, groceries, or even small repairs at home. It might not seem big enough, but for many of us, it is meaningful,” the farmer adds.

Making ‘I am tree-free’ more than a label

Paperdom’s client base now includes major corporations like Deloitte and Vantara. For Ritu, the satisfaction is twofold, she is creating employment and offering consumers an alternative to tree-based paper. 

One of the clients, Aparna Kiran Rao, Global Brand Marketing Director at HeiQ Materials AG, reflects on why the products resonate so strongly with her team while speaking to us. “At HeiQ, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do,” she explains. “We had come across Paperdom’s notebooks before and were drawn to both the design and the story behind them. So when the opportunity came to choose something meaningful for our team, it felt like the perfect fit.”

Through Paperdom, Ritu is offering employment to farmers and providing an alternative to tree-based paper

She adds, “The paper is not only durable and visually striking but also easy to customise. Another aspect that sets it apart is the environmental value. Knowing it is made from repurposed waste gives it a depth and purpose that traditional paper products simply don’t offer.”

As she continues to develop new products, the founder is also focused on supporting traditional artisans and extending opportunities to more farmers by integrating them into her growing supply chain.

“If someone holds a Paperdom journal and knows no tree was cut to make it, that is everything to me,” says Ritu, her voice full of conviction. It is a sentiment that will soon be echoed on the back of every product, stamped with a reminder, ‘I am tree-free’. 

Edited by Saumya Singh; All pictures courtesy Rituricha Jain