ABOUT US · OUR PEOPLE
The hands this passes through
“Driven by passion, delivered by nature.”
In a world plagued by plastic pollution and toxic disposables, Srikanth Bolla, born blind and raised in rural India, became an entrepreneur who turned adversity into strength and founded EarthCleanse with a purpose far greater than profit.
What sets this company apart is not a material or a certificate. It is who makes the products and what making them changes for them.
Hands too often unseen
Every plate, bowl and piece of cutlery passes through the hands of people whom most supply chains would never have hired. They include micro-entrepreneurs, rural artisans, women, farmers who collect fallen leaves and differently-abled workers. Together, they are making an impact far beyond their own communities. They are not a programme attached to a business. They are the business itself. With every plate, they are building more than sustainable products. They are building lives of dignity, pride and purpose.
Women: over 70% of the workforce
Pressing, finishing, grading, inspecting and packing. For many, this is the first formal wage in their household, paid on time and earned in safe, hygienic conditions at rates significantly above local agricultural labour rates.
Differently-abled colleagues
Working across presses, packing lines and quality control. They are not confined to a separate unit or a showcase shift. Our founder was told throughout his life what he could not do, and he built a company that does not repeat that mistake.
Tribal artisans
Sal leaf plates are hand-stitched using techniques tribal communities have practised for generations. These groups often face significant economic isolation. Commercial demand helps transform a disappearing craft into a source of stable income.
Micro-entrepreneurs & farmers
Going from farm to farm, these partners buy fallen leaves from the farmers who own them and run collection routes as independent small businesses. A decade ago, this material was often swept up and burned.
What the job actually offers
Dignity is easy to claim and harder to demonstrate. These are the things we can point to.
Wages above the local rate
Wages are significantly above local agricultural labour rates and are paid on time.
Skills that transfer
Collection, drying, grading, pressing, stitching, machine operation, quality control and packing. These are transferable trades, not just tasks.
Training to run a unit
Hands-on setup training for rural producers, with guidance on sourcing, machinery and workflow, helping suppliers become independent operators.
Safe and non-exploitative
Audited working conditions and an open invitation to buyers who want to verify them for themselves.
“Every product a consumer uses has an intrinsic value beyond its cost. That value comes from the quality of the materials, the care taken to protect the environment during production, the jobs created and the pride of the people who helped make it.”
Srikanth Bolla, founder
Every time you use one of our products, you are choosing a cleaner, purer and fairer world. Each product carries a story of inclusion, resilience and pride.
The hands this passes through
Before a plate reaches your table, it has been touched by a gatherer who walked through a plantation at dawn, an operator who guided the sheath into the press and someone who checked the finished edge against the light before approving it for sale.
Most of these workers are women. Many are differently-abled, and nearly all live within a few miles of the plant. This is not a programme we run alongside the business. It is how the business was built from the very beginning.
Three groups of people
1,000+ farmer partners
Farmers gather fallen sheaths and leaves from plantations and forest floors and receive cash at the collection point. This creates seasonal income in places where opportunities between harvests are limited.
70–80% women on the line
Women work in pressing, finishing, inspection and packing. In a region where formal factory jobs are often difficult for women to access, women make up the majority of our production workforce.
Differently-abled colleagues
Differently-abled people are employed across the group in numbers that are unusual across the industry. Our founder was denied educational opportunities because he is blind, and our inclusive hiring policy is a direct response to that experience.
Why it is built this way
A compostable plate remains compostable regardless of who makes it. Whether the person who makes it has a decent job, earns a fair wage and has a reason to stay is a choice the company makes. It is also the part of sustainability that never appears on a certificate.
We publish these figures because they should be verifiable: over 4,000 livelihoods supported, more than 1,000 farmer partners and twelve years of work. If a figure cannot be substantiated when a buyer asks, it should not appear on this page.