GREAT IDEAS IN THE BAG

By SHAGORIKA EASWAR

Anil Abrol’s company, Eco Guardian, made Canadian Business magazine’s list of the fastest growing companies in Canada for five straight years from 2016 to 2020.

His target was 15 years in a row, but the listing was discontinued.

Eco Guardian is on other lists, however, and may yet set another record.

Having left India in 1991 to work in Thailand, Abrol moved to Ireland in 1999 as Director of Finance for the company he worked for. 

Ireland was rated the most polluted country in Western Europe at the time, the biggest culprit being single-use plastic bags. Abrol had a ringside view of a remarkable turnaround as the country became the first to actively promote reusable bags.

On moving to Canada in 2004, he wanted to go into business for himself, but not through the tried and tested route of purchasing a franchise. “I wanted to do something impactful,” he says. 

 Within a couple of days of landing, he spotted a plastic bag at the home of the friend they were staying with and announced he had found his business idea – replacing plastic bags across North America with reusable ones.

Canada was three or four years behind Europe in such programs and the US further behind, the perfect landscape to launch his business.

His sons, just little boys at the time, thought it was a great idea, as did the kids of their friend. But “mature” people said no one would give up plastic bags and make the switch.

Sure enough, the first years were tough.

“I was a newcomer, trying to sell a new concept,” says Abrol, tracing the journey.

With a family used to living with expat benefits, it wasn’t easy.

He made his own Excel sheet presentations and as an accountant showed the large grocery chains – his potential clients – how they’d not only be helping the environment, it would be profitable. They were convinced of the benefits, but that didn’t translate into business. Undeterred, Abrol prepared to start from the ground up.

“They don’t call me Mr Can for nothing!” he says with a chuckle.

He had launched Hope International in 2004, changing the name to Eco Guardian in 2008 to better reflect his business philosophy. He raised funds, and invested time.

They designed and procured 10,000 bags, stored them in their garage and faxed flyers to stores.

The first day, a company faxed an order right back for 4000 bags. But it was slow going, looking for independent grocers who would stock their bags. They were developing their client base one carton at a time.

When the six months Abrol had given himself to make enough from the business to feed their family were up, he embarked on a job hunt.

“I was willing to go anywhere, perks, vacation days, those were not considerations at the time. I was willing to take a step down, but not too many. That’s not why we came to Canada. I joined Skills for Change for a five-day course and on the third day was told I didn’t need the course. After a three-hour job interview, I got a call saying they’d cancelled other interviews and I had the job.”  

He worked at this company for five years as a group controller while developing Eco Guardian after hours. His wife Nisha, a teacher, who had chosen to stay home to raise their sons stepped in and helped market the bags and make deliveries. People still didn’t think it would succeed. A lady told them this land demands a sacrifice. But Abrol looks at every challenge as an opportunity.

Then came their breakthrough order – from Longo’s. But now Abrol had set his sights higher and bags alone weren’t going to get him there. People who have a few bags in their cars weren’t going to buy more for some time. He had to diversify.

He met an environmentalist lady who told him of the tons of styrofoam waste created from food containers at the military base in Trenton, and he had his next big idea.

“We were probably the first to look at creating compostable food packaging,” he says.

Today, their portfolio of environmentally-friendly products includes tableware and containers for take-out, ready-to-eat meals, in-flight service, and containers retailers use to package food items sold through distributors across Canada. Loblaws, Longo’s, Costco, all use their products. They have designed reusable bags for Canadian Tire and Mark’s Wearhouse.

Made from sugarcane fibre or bamboo, the products are all sustainable and compostable, says Abrol. Even their paper products, cups and bowls, etc., are compostable as they are not lined with polyethylene. They are produced in Asia in state-of-the-art factories under Eco Guardian’s supervision and quality control.

“Quality, customer service and price, those are the pillars of our business and that’s why we keep growing,” he says.

When new ideas catch on, old business models are under threat. It was claimed that reusable bags can contain bacteria. Questioned about this during an interview, Abrol pointed out that so can human hair. “Our bags are reusable and washable – wash them!”

He addresses questions about sustainability and doubts about viability with equal frankness.

They use a by-product of sugar manufacture, waste fibre which would, in essence, be discarded. And bamboo is a fast-growing grass, not a tree, and regrowth is quick. Thus, they are not using land that could be used to grow food crops to source ingredients.

Some municipalities still don’t accept compostable tableware, cups and bowls in their green bins. “Our products are better in functionality as well as for the environment. Halton region is ahead of the curve on this and Nova Scotia and BC are good. But government regulations in other places have to catch up. Are they composting only food waste and yard waste or they able to upgrade the facility to include compostable bags and tableware? We need to close the last leg of the loop.”

And those polar fleece jackets that are made from recycled plastic bottles?

“A great idea, as each garment diverts many plastic bottles from the landfills, but polyester clothes come from petroleum, they are still plastic and at the end of their lifecycle, not compostable,” says Abrol. “I come from a culture where we recycle everything – turning a t-shirt into a dish cloth! We need to search for and adopt intelligent solutions.”

Eco Guardian beat 50 other manufacturers to win the Sobeys Plastic Waste Challenge. The grocer was looking for an alternative to its polystyrene foam meat packaging and Eco Guardian snagged the $25,000 award in a contest which Abrol describes with some glee.

“The eight finalists were invited to Halifax and each given 10 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for a Q&A session with the panel of judges. One of the questions was on capacity, when do you think you will be ready. I said, ‘I was ready seven years back, the industry was not ready’.”

The judges returned after deliberations and announced that participants would all receive certificates – in no particular order – with the winner receiving theirs last.

“So, obviously, no one wanted their name to be announced before that of others!” laughs Abrol. “When two of the big players got their certificates, I knew we had a good chance. When our name was announced as the winner, I threw my arms up in the air and said, ‘Yup! Here we go!’”

The company launched with just Abrol and his wife is now a team of 35, with 200 distributors and sales reps and is looking at hitting $25 million in turnover this year.

He is also on his way to achieving his dream of taking environmentally-friendly products across North America.

“We were in Vancouver recently and Nisha said, ‘Look, they’re using our bowls. Our staff also sends us photos of our products they spot in unlikely locations from their travels. We sell to wholesalers and distributors and our products are really going places!”

But he admits to sleepless nights along the way.

“My wife looks at me and says my vision sometimes scares her, but then she tells everyone that whatever her husband envisions, he achieves.”

Abrol credits her with developing the company into what it is today.

“She slowed down after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, but is in good health and still very involved with our operations. She oversaw the move to our new facility.”

Their sons Lavneesh  and Swapnil who had given their dad’s idea an enthusiastic thumbs up years ago are now active in the business.

Abrol encourages those who seek his guidance on finding success in Canada not to give up.

“Recognize that this is your journey, and while each journey may differ, everyone has to go through it. There’ll be ups and downs, but think about how to convert challenges into opportunities. Be flexible and adapt to the country, don’t expect it to adapt to you. If you’re disappointed that no one was waiting for you at the airport with a job offer, that’s your problem, not the country’s. You need to work to get a job. It might take time, but you’ll get there. Remember, if you were to go from Delhi to Bangalore, it would take you time to settle in and find a good job. Canada is a good country.”

Anil Abrol finds providing employment to people and seeing his vision of environmentally-friendly products gain wide acceptance hugely rewarding.

“Capitalism seeks infinite market growth, but we need to think about things we can reuse. Turning waste sugarcane fibre into tableware that can be composted and used to nurture crops is good circular economy.”

He was one of the external committee members for Waste Less and Save More – Join the Circular Movement, a webinar hosted by York Region recently.

With single-use plastics being phased out with new federal regulations, the country is finally on the same page Anil Abrol turned to 15 years ago.     

• Grant’s is proud to present this series about people who are making a difference in the community. Represented by PMA Canada (www.pmacanada.com).