Entrepreneurs

 INNOVATION |

HERO Packaging is one of those great ideas that came to a young couple as their online business was booming.

Anaita Sarkar and Vik Dave were shipping over 80-100 products a day - in plastic. When they would see their customers opening their packages, they started to feel incredibly horrifi ed at the amount of waste they were creating.

Th e real cherry on top of the plastic pie was when their two girls were in their offi ce during school holidays and were sitt ing amongst a pile of plastic, playing with the bubble wrap. Th ey knew there had to be something bett er.

Th ey Googled alternatives to plastic mailers and the only solution they could fi nd was paper-based packaging. It was a great idea, but not waterproof so it wouldn’t work for their products.

“During our research, we had come across companies across the world doing amazing things for sustainability, like turning pineapple leaves into leather, but there wasn’t a single eco-friendly solution to replace plastic shipping mailers,” Anaita said.

“From that moment, we were on a mission to create that solution. And aft er testing a bazillion diff erent materials, we found a material that was compostable, but also waterproof, super durable and acted like plastic in the shipping process, but would break down in a compostable environment.”

Now, imagine the potential around the world. If a small business ships, on average, 10 orders a day, it can prevent the size of two championship-sized tennis courts worth of plastic from entering landfi ll or our oceans.

One small business making 10 orders a day produces about 368sqm of packaging waste every year.

Th e sheer impact of eradicating plastic from online retailers in there shipping process, is set to grow as Anaita and Vik set their sights on global expansion.

“Online retail is growing exponentially fast, partly fueled by Covid, and we think e-commerce packaging is a really key issue that is fl ying under the radar simply because the volume of online retail packaging is not as visible as the use of plastic in physical retail stores, restaurants and supermarket,” Anaita said.

“So, that’s where we’ve decided to focus our energy: on the packaging and shipping process for small to large e-commerce businesses.”

“We have learnt along the way that recycling is not enough. You see, 90% of plastics and food scraps end up in landfi ll and in that environment, they produce methane which is a deadly enemy of our Planet,” Vik said.

“So, we decided to specialise in mailers that were certifi ed home compostable, but also made from such materials that if they ended up in landfi ll, they would still break down with no micro plastics and no waste.”

Hero Packaging was Australia’s fi rst Australian owned and certifi ed retail compostable company and have just celebrated their three-year anniversary. Th eir year on year growth is currently sitt ing at 212% , and another 122% growth is forecast for 2022.

With 23,000 customers, their bigger clients include Cue, Veronica Maine, Beginning Boutique, Apero Label, Ripcurl, ZaneRobe, Lush Cosmetics, Piping Hot, Moana Bikini and Wests Tigers.

Not only are the Founders of Hero Packaging composting ambassadors, they’re also simply good at business. With more than 20 years of experience in the ecommerce industry, Anaita and Vik are experts in this space and know what works and what doesn’t.

Vik has worked in sales, marketing and ecommerce his entire working life. From starting in door-to-door sales through to the Head of ecommerce of one of the largest online retailers in Australia, where he increased sales by two and a half times in his five-year period there.

Vik has been involved in every aspect of sales and marketing from both a faceto-face perspective and online. If there’s something you want to know about marketing or ecommerce - ask Vik.

Anaita’s path to ecommerce guru was a bit diff erent. Growing up in a family that owned a small business, Anaita began her working career behind the reception desk and she therefore fully understands the challenges small businesses face on a daily basis.

Aft er studying a Bachelor of Commerce, specialising in Accounting, Anaita soon realised the accounting industry wasn’t for her and moved into media. Within her fi rst year she was promoted twice and began presenting at meetings whilst a junior, which at the time was not standard practice.

In 2013 Anaita began guest lecturing marketing subjects at Macquarie University and while pregnant with her second child, Anaita started her fi rst ecommerce business Olivia & Co (now exited). Anaita is also author of the digital marketing book Sell Anything Online.

Anaita Sarkar and Vik Dave.

MANY workers living in the Western Sydney region and who sustained a workplace injury between October 2012 and October 2019 may have missed out on important payments.

Th e State Workers Compensation manager icare has encouraged more than 35,000 workers from the Western Sydney to have their past compensation payments reassessed to ensure they have received the correct entitlements. A review of weekly payments between 2012 and 2019 has revealed NSW workers injured at work should come forward to see if they are owed money on their workers compensation payments. A spokesman said identifi ed workers would have received a lett er from icare outlining the reassessment process for a review within the below council areas: • City of Parramatta. • Blacktown City Council. • Cumberland City Council. • Lithgow City Council. • Blue Mountains City Council. • Penrith City Council.

A review of historic payments has indicated earnings information used to determine weekly compensation payments was in some cases not provided to the insurer at the time.

A review of historic payments has indicated earnings information used to determine weekly compensation payments was in some cases not provided to the insurer at the time.