The company is collaborating with an Indian start-up to transform the country’s major smog problem into a packaging solution.
With the widespread usage of diesel generators in India propounding the nation’s problems with air pollution, a start-up based in the city of Gurugram, near New Delhi, has found a way to transform this smog into something useful.
As FAST COMPANY reports, Chakr Innovation has “designed a device that cools the exhaust, making it easier to catch particles of soot, and then stores it in a solvent. Clean air comes out the other side, and the soot can later be used to make black ink.”
This ink is now being used by Dell for its packaging, the OEM being the first company to make large-scale use of the start-up’s innovation. Dell has expressed its commitment to circular economy practices, “where the materials it uses are renewable or recycled and can be used in a closed loop”. Famously, the company has collaborated with a designer to turn e-waste into gold jewellery.
Before making things official, Dell tested the ink produced by Chakr Innovation for both safety and performance, and then began using it for its packaging in December 2017.
“It’s not something that only has limited use and application,” says Piyush Bhargava, a senior executive at Dell. “It’s our belief, based on what we’ve seen with Chakr so far, that this has potential for industrial scaling, not just in technology applications or in packaging, but anywhere print is used.”
