Imagine a pencil made of paper. Or even a pen.

One of the initiatives promoted by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education Technology Business Incubation (MUTBI) program is the Papertree™ Creations India Pvt. Ltd. (www.papertree.co.in).

The brainchild of Shashank Tulsyan,  Siddharth Bhasin and  Sumeen Garg, it looks at an environmentally-sound and a commercially-viable way to manufacture pencils and pens.

The idea is simple in its intent: save trees, save the environment. Pencils are made from wood for which trees are felled; the Papertree people make pencils from waste paper; they save trees and at the same time, help in effective waste management.

They have a "Where Paper meets Pencil" program that encourages people to adopt the three Rs of environment-friendly living: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Old newspapers are handed over to Papertree, and they, in turn, give the equivalent in Papertree pencils and pens.

By recycling used paper, they reduce environmental degradation. It is a small idea with a big impact.

Not only individuals, corporations are also encouraged to enrol in this innovative program and several companies have adopted it as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

It is another example of Manipal Academy of Higher Education contributing to society and the environment.