When Aanal Vora was on vacation in Miami Beach several years ago, she looked beyond the beauty of the area and saw something that bothered her immensely: plastic waste scattered along the shoreline.
“You see this in stories, that it hurts sea turtles. But, when we physically saw that, it was really bad,” she says.
The image stuck in Vora’s mind, and she knew she had to do something. The 37-year-old Yorktown mother decided that she would start a business that would create products to help cut people’s dependence on plastic. In 2020, Vora and her friend, Kadambari Patel, launched Earthy Nest, LLC, which sells plastic free and zero waste solutions.
“We said, ‘Let’s do this’ and little by little start helping people eliminate plastic,” Vora says.
Earthy Nest has an online store and Vora and Patel also work to sell the goods at local markets. Earthy Nest offers a variety of items, from reusable shopping bags to coconut bowls to copper water bottles and areca leaf plates. Both Vora and Patel are from India, and all of Earthy Nest’s offerings are manufactured in India.
Vora is quick to add that using one reusable shopping bag can replace almost 200 plastic bags. Plastic usage has increased dramatically over time, and the environment is suffering because of it, Vora says.
“Over the past 200 to 300 years, plastic production has increased so much,” she says.
According to seedscientific.com,
300 million tons of plastic waste are produced every year, and the United States is the world’s top producer of it. By 2040, there will be 1.3 billion tons of plastic waste in the environment. And, it takes 500 to 1,000 years for plastics to decompose. In fact, one plastic bag takes 20 years to begin breaking down, and one plastic water bottle takes 450 years to decompose.
The plastic problem is growing, Vora says, and people need to change their habits to help curb the amount of plastic in the world. Earthy Nest, according to its website, believes strongly in the seven R’s: rethink, refuse, reuse, reduce, recycle, repair and rot. Vora is hoping to expand the business to include workshops to help people understand and navigate the non-plastic world.
“We want to educate people and show them how to shop and bring less plastic into their homes,” she says. “We want people to see a future with plastic-free living. We want to show them how easy that can be.”
Vora and Patel are both wives of doctors and mothers who have dedicated themselves to making the world a little less plastic-dependent and a lot more focused on sustainability.
“We want to convey our message to them and show them the alternatives,” she says.
Vora and Patel decided to name their company Earthy Nest because it showcased what its mission was.
“We tried a lot of names, Vora says. “We decided Earthy Nest because we want people to make their nests eco-friendlier and more chemical free.”
TO THE POINT:
Earthy Nest, LLC
Email: earthynest@gmail.com
Website: www.earthynest.com
Contacts: Aanal Vora: 716-986-4160
Kadambari Patel: 978-746-1108
Business: Plastic free and eco-friendly company
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