DIY (Do It Yourself) is a sought-after word in today’s millennial world. From recipes to other fun activities, the list of DIY activities is never-ending. DIY is a technique that helps to explore the concept of creating things ourselves. To help us in making our world greener, Sow and Grow, a startup creates DIY gardening Kits and other sustainable products such as plantable pen, seed balls, plantable pencil etc. Not only these DIY kits, but this startup is helping masses to opt for sustainable alternatives with their range of eco-friendly products and gifts.

With an intent to be a part of the green movement and contribute to the environment, Sow and Grow has come up with sustainable alternatives for the festival of Diwali. To increase the green footprint, they have launched the ultimate Diwali Mega box which includes plantable seed Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha idols with Marigold and Tulsi seeds. They also have things such as DIY gardening kits, cow dung diyas in these Diwali special mega boxes.

Sow and Grow founded by Neha Saharan is an organization where they strive to provide eco – friendly sustainable products for everyday use and gifting. They offer DIY Gardening kits where plants can be grown in smallest pots in a balcony. Their initiative helps people switch from conventional products to more environment-friendly recycled options.

“I think in today’s time it is extremely critical to create awareness as we are witnessing the harmful effects of global warming and increasing pollution levels.  Its no more an option but it is important to go green and choose sustainable products.  For eg. like stationery, everyone uses it and these are some of the small steps everyone can take to more recycled things hence contributing to cutting fewer trees,” said Neha Saharan

Gifting is considered as an expression to show gratitude and appreciation. With evolving years, it has become a tradition and on the festival of lights, they are using these DIY kits to be gifted with the powerful message of saving the environment from plastic. They are adding a light to the concept of gifting with a changing mindset to people’s perspective.

Neha adds “When we talk about our DIY kits it’s a very constructive activity which promotes go green, all our products are plantable. Specially plantable stationery, everything is made up of recycled paper. We strongly believe in recycling and reusing. People are becoming aware and they want to go for a more sustainable option. We as a society are slowly becoming aware. We do notice a change in people gifting options as they choose our mega hamper  as a gift on Diwali.”

Sow and Grow has designed different kits like Jute bag collection which consist of seed diary, jute bag and colour pencils. They also have DIY gardening kits which consists of different seeds like chilli, tomato, okra, ladyfinger.  She also mentioned “As a brand, we are seeing the change as people are opting for more and more sustainable options. Earlier when we started it was not the case. Only people who were aware of the idea of eco-friendly products approached us but with our more and more products launched which do have a demand in the market people are becoming more and more conscious about their choices.”

Recycling paper helps in solid waste management and refrain from creating new landfills. It also helps in the reduction in the release of harmful methane gases and other toxin occurs. It also minimizes global warming and cutting of fresh timber. It also helps in reducing wastewater toxicity as it causes a decline in the quality of water.

Sow and Grow also focused on DIY products to become a core concept in gifting. They believed in recycling and giving back to nature. She also mentioned “People used to go in for more flashy things as Sow and Grow was an idea born from party planning. Initially, we faced challenges with the acceptance of plants as a gift at a large scale.”

Neha also highlighted “People are becoming aware. As in for Diwali people are buying Plantable Laxmi Ji and Ganesh Ji for children as gifts. People also buy a lot of colour pencils. So, this shift shows they are making a change in their choices. For eg. earlier they would opt for sparkling covered notebooks while now they want a recyclable one, earlier this was not in the picture.”

Sow and Grow is giving sustainability a creative touch with their green DIY kits. Let’s do our part this Diwali by going greener with our festive choices.

Written by: Nidhi Choudhary