Hello Green, the go-to for biodegradable products

Hello Green Ltd has established itself as the go-to company for the food and beverage industry to access and utilise biodegradable food containers, cups and other utensils as those businesses are the main distributors of single-use plastics.

Managing director Vandana Mangroo said with that noticeable gap, it was only natural for her to be drawn to solving the problem. The Woodbrook-based company distributes its products to several Caribbean countries – among them Dominica, Barbados and Grenada – and Mangroo plans to go beyond these soon.

"We are also looking at North America, Canada and Guyana, so not just the Caribbean, but because we hold the Caribbean near and dear, we are looking at expanding to the other islands."

Aside from expansion, Mangroo has been using opportunities at various expos the company has been invited to, educating the public on the products and its benefits.

Hello Green was invited to take part in an expo to be held in the Dominican Republic hosted by Caribbean Export in a few weeks. This comes as the company successfully completed its participation at the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo held last weekend at Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain. She said on educating visitors to her booth, all the responses received were mixed.

"A lot of people had never even heard of the options that we present, they thought we were a new company because we really do operate business-to-business, so we haven't had as much interaction with the general public. But at the expo, the Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon stopped by and were telling me that this is great, and this is the direction they are heading.

"It was great to let people see that we are out here, doing this work and networking in the industry to put Trinidad and Tobago as a more eco-destination and not just a business one. This will show businesses that they can put the environment as part of their core."

Hello Green also made waves in the food and beverage industry during the covid19 lockdown because despite commercial food establishments being closed, hospitals and quarantine facilities were up and running.

"We remained open since we were deemed essential because of our customers which are hotels and quarantine centres. Those needed packaging because they weren't allowed to use reusable cutlery and had to use disposable. These businesses didn't want to use plastic or styrofoam and our products were available at the time since it was a tricky time to get these products."

Mangroo said the company also worked alongside the Supermarket Association of TT and provided the packaging for the food drives held during the lockdown.

"They provided meals every day for the doctors and nurses working at the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility and Caura Hospital. I did the packaging for the caterers, free of charge."

These two milestones aren't the only tangible evidence of her progress as she also works with the Ministry of Planning and the Bureau Standards to ensure policies needed to take TT from a legislative stance to an actualised one are implemented. Before launching her company, and being able to tackle the many projects she is venturing in, Mangroo said she was faced with many obstacles as it is a male-dominated industry.

"You get a lot of no's and a lot of push back especially being a woman... I've been in rooms where I'm literally the only woman there. In the industry, dealing with stakeholders, sometimes I'm the only other woman and that can be intimidating."

She said it was stressful being in that situation and she often went home crying after having to deal with manufacturers belittling her, but with the constant support she received she never felt like giving up.

With this in mind, she offered advice for others pursuing a career in this field. "You need to work and you need to start from literally the bottom up because you need to learn all the roles, from working in retail to cleaning floors to packing the shelves up to ordering stock and understanding technology and how that can enable you. You can run a business in a very lean way once you have that knowledge and skillset, you don't need a huge team, once you have that emotional intelligence and the skillset."

Aside from expanding Hello Green, Mangroo has partnered with Jonathan Barcant, founder of the non-governmental organisation IAMovement, to create Close the Loop Caribbean. The idea behind it is to offer companies in the food and beverage industry a chance to compost their waste and give the public an opportunity offset their carbon footprint. She explained that this is still underway but people would be allowed to donate and have a tree planted on their behalf.

Though this project is still ongoing, people are free to access titbits about the company and the plans these businesses are embarking upon on its Facebook and Instagram pages under the same name.

"Our first major project will be industrial recomposting and then onto quarry rehabilitations and that would include replanting trees and restoring the soil. IAMovement is already leading this quarry rehab project and have already completed ten acres of rehabilitation at the National Quarries Co Ltd in Sangre Grande," Mangroo said.

She said Close the Loop Caribbean have been given an extra 15 acres of land to restore and will be working on that over the next three to six months, but the establishment of the business and all of the results will be seen by 2025.