Banana Leaves: The Ancient Green Solution to Modern Pollution

When was the last time you ate food on leaf ? For me it was during Onam, we Keralites eat Onam Sadhya on banana leaf. Banana leaves have been used to wrap food in India for centuries but this practice is mainly seen only in rural parts of India. Now they are brought back as an alternative to plastic packaging.

Why banana leaves over plastic?

Banana leaves are biodegradable unlike plastic which takes 1000+ years to degrade. Banana leaves degrade in about a few weeks. They can be reused for a while as well before composting them.

Supermarkets in Thailand and Vietnam use banana leaves to wrap vegetables and meat for their customers. Now cafes in India have also started serving food for their customers in banana leaves instead of plastic plates.

By now, there will be a question in everyone's mind which is "don't banana leaves dry up fast ?". Here is how a kid from Tamil Nadu came up with a solution to that problem. Tenith Adithyaa was 11 years old when he noticed farmers in his village were throwing away heaps of banana leaves. Curiosity hit the kid and he asked the farmers why they were throwing away the leaves which were used to serve food on during festive season. The farmer's response was quite natural, the wilted leaves had no use for them. Adithyaa thought to himself, "was there a way to increase the shelf span of the leaves ?". This simple thought made him to embark on 4 year research journey to find a solution. After a lot of trail and error, he finally came to an innovation called Banana Leaf Technology which increases the shelf life of banana leaves from 3 days to 3 years without the use of any artificial chemicals!!

Source: Banana Leaf Technology

How did he increase the shelf life of the banana leaves?

He soaked the banana leaves in a natural solution which made the leaf cells stronger and flexible. He also used some special techniques to remove extra moisture from the leaves which prevents the leaves from getting moldy. However we are not sure of the what natural solution and techniques he has used to achieve this due to patent protection.

My Takeaway

We should look at everything with a eye of curiosity, question everything that comes across us. This habit of questioning will lead us to something great one day.