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Uflex Ltd, one of India’s biggest flexible packaging companies, has developed a simple, cost-effective method to convert used plastics into pellets that can be used for making products used in daily life.
“It is true that plastics take a long time to degrade. But it is possible to turn this long shelf life of plastic into an advantage using the right technology,” said Uflex CMD Ashok Kumar Chaturvedi on Saturday.
IndiaPlast show
At IndiaPlast 2019, the ongoing plastics show here, Uflex put up a demonstration unit to recycle multi-layer plastic packaging waste into pellets that can be used for making useful products.
“We first demonstrated this technology nearly 25 years ago and won recognition for this at Davos in 1995. We have been using the technology to recycle plastic scrap generated during manufacturing at our plants. Recently, some people asked me why we don’t have a demonstration unit so that people can see it is possible, and we decided to showcase it at IndiaPlast,” Chaturvedi said.
“With our demo unit at the IndiaPlast exhibition, we have shown that plastic is recyclable. The pellets produced from recycled plastics can be used for making buckets, mugs and dustbins; park benches; tiles and tables; and roads and road dividers,” he said.
‘Cooking’ plastic waste
The plant is capable of recycling any kind of plastic waste, including printed and multi-laminated plastic films, metalised pet, polyester and BOPP.
The machine that Uflex has developed costs around ₹2 crore and can produce pellets at a rate of 250 kg per hour. “Since the process involved is ‘cooking’ plastic waste, there is no emission of noxious gases, unlike the incineration process. And since it is cooking, the process requires only moderate temperatures, and hence is not very energy-intensive,” Chaturvedi told Businessline .
Overseas plants
A leader in plastic packaging, Uflex has plants in Jammu as well as in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Besides, it has plants in Dubai, Egypt, Hungary, Mexico and the US.
Chaturvedi said that Uflex recently approached the Noida Authority for 8-10 acres of land at a discounted rate for processing plastic waste generated in the satellite town of the capital. It has also requested the Centre not to levy any GST on the finished products made from recycled plastic.
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