One of the main reasons for Asif Ali Gohar creating the rice leather that he is known for was to find a way to make leather, or a leather like material, that was less damaging to the environment and offered an alternative to animal based materials. As the business grows and the use is increasing, these benefits are becoming more key to the success of the business and it is attracting attention from everywhere.
Rice is grown in a few key areas for the most part, and using this resource to expand beyond food, allows for these farmers and local residents to have increased benefits. It is a crop that can be planted year after year and can have very successful yields. It is grown in the traditional manner and does not require high levels of chemicals or other interventions.
When it can be sourced locally it also has the advantage of shorter shipping distances. Shipping and fuel are largely affecting the environment constantly with many modes of travel being used but none of them very environmentally friendly. Other alternatives are to find better ways to ship, ways to use less fuel while shipping, only shipping lighter materials, and growing it next to the facility. As the impacts of the decreased shipping is seen, the world is a slightly healthier place for it and when success can be seen it is sure to spread to other companies and industries as well. It also reduces the cost of shipping, and that keeps more money in the lives of the employees and the people who are growing the rice.
Not only does growing rice take a lower toll on the environment that animals, but it also creates less pollution during the processing. There are fewer steps and it uses less water, with fewer cleaning steps and chemicals used in the cleaning. The water is safer and can be reused, and this all impacts the environment in a positive way. Using less energy allows for there to be a lower carbon footprint for the factories and plants, and this can be expanded as the process improves with technological advances.
By working towards new methods of doing things and adding new raw materials, the entire process is benefiting the environment beyond this one product. If these processes and ideas are able to be altered and adjusted to work with other projects then it can have a wide reaching affect that is seen in industries around the world. Setting the ground work to show the industry that there can be better ways to do things, ways to protect the environment without creating lower quality items, and even to save money while doing so, this rice leather is greatly reducing the damage to the environment in that industry and beyond.
