In a time when climate anxiety is trending and plastic waste feels like it’s taking over the planet, one entrepreneur is giving environmentalism a makeover. Purav Desai, the Mumbai-based founder behind multiple green ventures, is proving that sustainability can be stylish, scalable, and seriously impactful. Whether he’s decarbonizing music festivals or swapping single-use plastics for refillable soap bottles, his work is turning eco into a vibe and making it accessible to all.
The Origin Story: From Business School to Impact Maverick
Purav Desai’s journey started at H.R. College of Commerce and Economics and later at NMIMS, where most students were eyeing careers in finance or marketing. But he took a different path, one that led to purpose-driven ventures. With early guidance from UnLtd India, Purav learned to shape ideas that blend profitability with impact. That’s where the idea of scaling sustainability took root.
Cupable: The Rice Husk Revolution🥤
In 2018, Purav co-founded Cupable, a reusable cup systems startup that transformed agricultural waste like rice husks and bamboo fibers into sleek, durable cups. Designed for heavy use at public events, Cupable featured in over 150 festivals and activations, helping cut down single-use plastic dramatically.
Each cup is reusable up to 250 times, tracked via QR codes, and backed by collaborations with brands such as Taco Bell, Baskin-Robbins, and Cold Stone Creamery. In one case, Cupable helped an event slash single-use cup usage from 100,000 to just 30,000, a win not just for the planet, but for how we think about convenience.
Green Lit: Making Concerts Climate-Positive
After making waves with Cupable, Purav leveled up with Green Lit, a startup focused on transforming how live concerts and events handle waste and emissions. Think Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, and Lollapalooza. Through Green Lit, over 200 concerts have become zero-waste showcases.
Green Lit’s process involves measuring carbon footprints, replacing polluting materials with sustainable alternatives, offsetting emissions, and building long-term infrastructure for greener experiences. It’s not just clean-up, it’s a full system rewire of the entertainment industry.
Refillable: FMCG, Minus the Landfill
Refillable, Purav’s foray into zero-waste home care. The concept is refreshingly simple: you order household products online, a CNG- or electric-powered truck arrives, and your detergent or soap gets refilled into reusable containers. No plastic bottles. No landfill guilt. Just everyday sustainability.
Serving over 3,500 households and cutting 2.5 tonnes of plastic, Refillable brought back the milkman mode with a modern, planet-friendly twist.
Treenew: The Solar Prelude
Before cups and concerts, Purav founded Treenew Renewable Energy Solutions. The goal was to help businesses and schools embrace solar power through workshops, zero-capex installations, and sustainable partnerships. Though not his most famous venture, Treenew was a foundational chapter in his climate entrepreneurship journey.
The PayWithPlastic Campaign
In one of his boldest experiments, Purav launched PayWithPlastic in Pune, a campaign where people could exchange hard-to-recycle plastic for cleaning products. Over 7.5 tonnes of plastic were collected and swapped for 15,000 liters of refillable goods. It was messy, logistically complex, and at times chaotic. But it worked, and it proved that behavior change isn’t a myth when you make it fun and rewarding.
What Sets Purav Apart
Purav is more than just a founder. He’s a systems thinker, always exploring intersections between consumption, behavior, and cultural identity. His approach blends strategy with empathy, activism with branding, and Gen Z sensibilities with infrastructure-level impact.
Rather than lecturing about environmental issues, Purav designs solutions that people genuinely want to use. Whether it’s refill stations at concerts or soap delivered without the plastic drama, his work nudges people toward better choices without the guilt trip.
Recognition and Future Moves
He’s already made waves on global stages. In 2020, Purav was a Regional Finalist at the UN’s Young Champions of the Earth and a winner at Maharashtra Startup Week. He’s been featured on sustainability podcasts, panels, and startup showcases, and the United Nations Environment Programme even gave him a nod.
What’s next? He’s expanding Green Lit to college festivals and tier-2 cities, scaling Refillable to 10,000+ homes, teaming up with FMCG giants for plastic-free product launches, and building Packaging-as-a-Service models for brands. At the heart of it all is his vision of making India the global capital of circular design.
Purav’s Mission in a Nutshell
What makes Purav Desai so compelling isn’t just his business savvy or his eco-credentials; it’s the way he makes sustainability feel effortless, exciting, and even a little bit sexy. Whether you’re at a Coldplay concert or refilling your handwash, there’s a good chance his vision is behind it.
This is what the future looks like: refillable, reusable, and ready for change.
