Celebrating India’s Eco-Warriors: Saalumarada Thimmakka
When we started Bilzo in early 2019. We were just a bunch of folks with an idea and nothing else and everybody will tell you in the startup world that you need inspiration, for some, it’s Elon Musk, for some it’s Steve Jobs and that’s great, but when we saw a lot of paper being wasted and how it was negatively impacting the environment, we were also looking for some inspiration, people who have done something about the environment and came across a lot of folks who have done a lot in environmental policy and somehow it was not connecting with us. Until we came across this post by the President in March 2019
The story of Vriksha Mathe(Mother of trees) as she is popularly called is nothing short of a miracle. Hailing from Ramanagar district in Karnataka, she is best known for her work of planting 385 Banyan trees along a 4 km stretch, she did this with meager resources with 0 assistance from the govt. She and her husband planted those trees and have tended to them, so much so that they would take 4 pails of waters for 4 km every day and all of this absolutely for 0 money. They just did it.
Saalumarada’s (row of trees in the Kannada language) husband passed away in 1991, a year before I was born, and ever since then, she has not stopped. Official figures quote that she has planted nearly 8000 trees. With awards from all over the world, an environmental organization in the US is named Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education. While BBC called her one of the most influential and inspirational women of the world and just last year decorated with the Padma Shri, the third-highest Civilian Honor of India.
Saalumarada’s story inspires us to continue working towards the menace that paper bills have caused to the environment and doing our bit towards the environment. Every tree saved from being cut is every tree planted.
These paper receipts are meant to be ultimately thrown away into the dustbin ending up finally in dump yards, have 0 recycle value, and have a harmful component called the BPA in them that can cause infertility in men. I have not seen a single advantage for paper receipts over digital receipts.
We at Bilzo have vowed to get rid of them in entirety and have already made considerable progress. We as of today have saved 22000 receipts from being printed, with saving runnings in 10s of thousands of rupees, and helped achieve better customer experience.
70% of customers now feel more confident, now that they have the receipt always accessible and are finding it easier to connect with the store. We are not only sending just the log of transactions but have propped the bills with various features that customers are just loving.
And that’s our vision, we understand that everyone can’t go and physically plant a tree but we believe that you can do something very simple. Next time you shop, ask for digital receipts (a cherry if they are Bilzo receipts) this helps reducing paper and hopefully lesser thermal paper in the future and help supplement Saalumarada’s effort and make the world cleaner one bill a time.
If you are a business and want to give digital receipts feel free to get in touch with us at founders@bilzo.in, if you are a consumer and want to know how you could help, please get in touch with us at help@bilzo.in.
