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STORY: UNEP / INDIA YOUNG CHAMPION OF THE EARTH
TRT: 04:04
SOURCE: UNEP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 18 JULY 2025 – 01 AUGUST 2025, KOLKATA, INDIA
1. Various shots, Jinali Mody working with team at the Banofi factory
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jinali Mody, Founder and CEO, Banofi Leather:
“Banofi’s mission is to create materials that heal the planet.”
3. Med shot, Mody handling vegan leather sheets
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jinali Mody, Founder and CEO, Banofi Leather:
“So, we're tackling two global problems. The first is that the materials of today are extremely damaging to the world. So, we are creating new materials that will replace many of the existing polluting materials like leather, plastics, and more.”
5. Various shots, stack of conventional leather treated with chromium being transported in a tricycle
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jinali Mody, Founder and CEO, Banofi Leather:
“The banana tree, once it fruits, the whole tree-like stem has to be cut for a new plant to grow. So, the banana tree, once it fruits, the whole tree-like stem has to be cut for a new plant to grow.”
7. Various shots, man harvesting banana stems at banana plantation
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jinali Mody, Founder and CEO, Banofi Leather:
“That's 80 percent of the plant by weight, and that’s 120 million tonnes of waste generated annually by this crop.”
9. Various shots, man carrying banana stems
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jinali Mody, Founder and CEO, Banofi Leather:
“We’re tapping into banana crop waste, which is a really rich cellulosic material, to create new materials. We’ve started with our first product, which is Banofi Leather, a plant-based leather from banana crop waste.”
11. Various shots, raw material processing, at the Banofi factory
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Jinali Mody, Founder and CEO, Banofi Leather:
“And we're using this cellulose from banana crop waste to replace materials across multiple different sectors.”
13. Various shots, raw material processing, at the Banofi factory
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Jinali Mody, Founder and CEO, Banofi Leather:
“We want to reimagine the materials of the future by using bio-based plant-based, natural ingredients, so that we create materials that aren't resource intensive on the world that result in massive carbon emission reduction compared to conventional materials. They will biodegrade, and they’ll go back to the earth.”
15. Various shots, vegan leather cut and sewn for finished products at the Banofi factory
16. Various shots, finished consumer goods
17. Med shot, Jinali modelling vegan banana leather handbag
Once a banana plant fruits, its stem must be cut down for a new plant to grow. Globally, this generates over 100 million tonnes of crop waste each year. Much of it is discarded in fields, where it decomposes and releases methane, a greenhouse gas over 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. For entrepreneur Jinali Mody, those discarded stems are the roots of a future for sustainable fashion.
At the Banofi factory in Kolkata, India, Mody and her team transform banana stems into Banofi Leather, a plant-based alternative that looks, feels, and performs like traditional leather — but without the high water consumption and chemical pollution associated with conventional tanning processes.
Mody said, “Banofi’s mission is to create materials that heal the planet.”
The company’s work tackles two global problems: the environmental toll of resource-heavy materials such as leather and plastics, and the mounting crop waste challenge. By tapping into banana stems, Banofi is creating a path toward sustainable design that could replace polluting materials across multiple industries.
For this achievement, Mody has been named a 2025 Young Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Planet A. The award provides funding, mentorship, and global recognition to help scale bold ideas from young environmental innovators.
