About Us

My name is Rohan Agrawal, and I am a student at Millburn High School. Walking through the streets of my town, my shoes crunch against paper plates sprawled across the floor, overflowing from the bin labeled “recycling”. Magazines torn up, thrown in recycling. Envelopes ripped open and discarded. Old worksheets and notebook paper scribbled on and cast aside into the beloved recycling bin. But I know better. Even just a drop of contaminants, leftover soda in a can or dirty food containers can ruin the whole batch of perfectly reusable paper. And even if it does pass uncontaminated, less than 70% of the products are recycled for later use. It just isn’t efficient enough. 

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The waste I’ve witnessed isn’t only limited to my school cafeteria. I’ve traveled all around Asia, Europe, and South America, and things are only looking worse. Cruising through the rivers of Cambodia on a little wooden boat, I saw used paper cups and bags floating on the surface, polluting the town’s water supply and harming the natural sea life. Hiking through the rainforests of Indonesia, our tour guide solemnly told us about the shrinking forests, a direct result of deforestation. Sightseeing in Lima with my family, I noticed people chucking their used paper and plastic material carelessly on the sidewalk, unconcerned about the inevitable breeze blowing their trash into the sea. 

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I thought a long time about my role in all the destruction of our planet. Although there is little I can do alone to solve the massive crises our planet faces, I knew that I could change my own small corner of the world. One area of life that I wanted to focus on is the wasteful one-time use of paper. You’re probably wondering, what is anyone supposed to do with a ripped apart piece of paper? But what if there was a way you could extend its life, and all while directly connect with our planet? 

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Many people’s complaint with the recycling and reuse of paper is the lack of direct change it has in the grand scheme of life. What is one person using a bit of scrap paper really doing for the planet anyway? And that’s when I discovered paper embedded with plant and wildflower seedlings, aptly known as seed paper. I thought, what if the paper we received as envelopes could live on in our soil, returning back to its roots as trees, flowers, and fruit? Currently, seed paper has limited uses. But if something as commonly used as an envelope could also be quickly and efficiently planted, each individual would slowly but surely make our environment greener and flourishing. 

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These envelopes would not only have various seeds in them that buyers can easily grow, but also come with unique and colorful designs to represent the beauty of our planet. Our planet faces a multitude of attacks that seem beyond our control. Global warming. Mass deforestation. Ocean pollution. However, together we can at least take a small step forward towards a more sustainable future.