Annapoorna cottage Industries, had a humble beginning way back in the year 1987.

Company has grown leaps & bounds. Initially the, technology was Indigenously developed by R D RAJ.

INFORMATION BRIEF ON LEAF PLATE MAKING

PREAMBLE Abundantly available agricultural and forest products like leaves of Beautia Superba, Beautia Monosperma, Sheets of Arcent palm and Bauhinia Frondosa (Sal leaves, Mahul leaves or seali leaves) are used to make small cups and plates for serving and packaging food Stuffs. These leaves are available in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Madya Pradesh, Chhattisghad, Jharkund and Behar in plenty. The existing products made by rural craft men are very poor in physical strength and far from clean and hygienic. There is good scope for self -employment for rural and tribal people with a reasonable investment to Manufacture improved leaf cup and plate with the help of a machine. The leaf cups and plates prepared can be found in Hotels, Railway catering and Temples. These machines are in use in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhttisgadh and they have been accepted by the traders and consumers due to its cost-effectiveness and hygienic consideration and as a replacement to the traditional handmade leaves and other paper products. LEAF CUP AND PLATE MAKING MACHINC : With the availability of abundant raw material from forest and agricultural products and with continued consumption of the leaf cups a need was felt to make some Improvement in dimensional stability, shape, finish and hygienic quality. A simple Pedal operated machine with full trimming has been designed and developed for the purpose. Further modifications are done to the machine for accurate finishing. The salient features of the machine are: 1. It is manually operated with minimum power consumption. 2. All the operations of folding, trimming, pressing in to shape and drying are done in one single operation by pressing the pedal liver. 3. The machine requires only 300 watts to 1500 watts of electric power for the heating dye. For better quality of production lock the pedal and heat the dye for 30 minutes. 4. Single semi skilled operator and a helper can prepare 400 to 500 cups or 300 to 400 quality leaf plates per hour. 5. The leaf cups/plates is subject to heat up to 120 to 150 Oc for about 4 to 6 is sufficient to sterilize the product and does not need any fungicidal spray. About 60% free micro bacteria are assured. The compactness of the unit and mode of operation should enable installation of number of units in rural area, which could in turn generate employment and premiership among Village craftsmen. Training on various components of the equipments includes dyes and electric-heating coil will be

given at the time of machine delivery. METHODS OF MAKING LEAF CUPS AND PLATES: Condition of various raw materials. The leaves are initially dried in sun or shade. Care should be taken to see that leaves are sufficiently dried to avoid fungus attack. They should not be over dried, as they become brittle. The dried leaves are arranged in and bundled either in gunny bag or in bamboo baskets and stored for further use. At the time of making the cups the required quantity of leaves are taken out and dipped in Water for about 5 minutes and wiped out with clean cloth to remove dust and dirt. The leaves are dried while retaining the pliability. The leaves in this condition are kept in a polythene bag to avoid drying before they are used. USES OF THE MACHINE The machine can produce shallow plates/cups/donnas from various leaves. The leaf of sufficient size is placed on the lower dye plate, the pedal pressed down and released after a few seconds. During this single operation machine press, folds and trims the two layers together. ECONOMICS With an investment of about Rs 15,000/- towards cost of machine and raw materials for about one months etc. a semi skilled worker with 3 helper can earn about Rs. 85/ per day as against Rs. 5/to 10/- in the traditional production, after making deductions towards utilities, interest, depreciation etc. MARKET TIE UP The market tie-up can be taken up as and when required for a stipulated period of time. If more than thirty women are working in one place we provide our staff to co-ordinate Methods of making Leafplates and Cups: 1. Raw Leaves are collected from the forest by the rural women or men. Leaves are dried in sun or shade (propoer care should be taken while the leaves are drying suffeciently, to avoid fungal attack) 2. Over drying of leaves should be avoided as they become brittle 3. Initially the leaves are stiched on duly modified stiching machine to get a desired shape and size of (6 diametre to 18 diametre) 4. LDPE coated paper is palced at the bottom of the same sized thread stiched leaf and pressed at 120 degree c heated die for 5-6 seconds to obtain the desired shape 5. Before going for production of leaf plates the leaves are to be given treatment of moisture observent up to 30% (a wet gunny wrapper is to be wrapped on the leaves the day before or 2 hrs before going for production) for more

flexibility and deep folding. These treated leaves are wiped with a clean cloth to remove dust, durt and or kept in a polyethiline bag to avoid dry before they are used. 6. through chick of moisture before packing the finished product leafplates. 7. Sheet of arcent palm leaves can also be pressed in the same moulding machine 8. These leaves are available n particular season in forest areas, during this period the rural woman has to satire maximum quantity of leaves. In case of shortage of raw leaves artificial non biodegradabale polyster fil can be replaced to meet the market demaond and the livelihood of the rural women.