Uflex commissions recycling plant in Noida

This pilot plant in its Noida facility is aimed to mitigate the piling plastic dumps in Delhi–NCR by recycling collected post-consumer waste PET bottles and multi-layer plastic packaging into chips and granules, put into further use to make products with economic value. The plant has the capacity to recycle 9600 tonnes of PET bottles and 10,000 tonnes of multi-layer plastic waste per annum. Uflex claims to manufacture more than 100 products using the recycled plastic waste. This initiative is in line with the company’s global sustainability campaign Project Plastic Fix, where waste is converted into wealth.

Uflex is running a similar line in Bengaluru that sorts out 600 metric tonnes of garbage every day. It further has plans to start a recycling line in Varanasi that will recycle 200 tonnes of waste a day.

According to Uflex, of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that has been produced in the world, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste either lying in the landfill or swimming in the ocean. A meagre 9 percent of this plastic waste gets recycled. Reports indicate that by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic on this planet, if there isn’t an eco-system built to recycle plastic waste.

On the launch of this facility, Jeevaraj Pillai, joint president, Packaging and New Product Development, Uflex said, ‘The problem of discarded plastic is escalating and alarming. India alone generates 26,000 tons of plastic waste every day. Need of the hour is to enable a system where plastic is collected, properly cleaned and then recycled. Our Noida plant is one such initiative that we have made in this direction to solve the plastic waste crisis around us and Delhi-NCR is set to benefit from it. With recycling plants as this coming up at various locations, Uflex will have a capacity to recycle more than 3000 metric tons of plastic waste a month. We aim to build the largest infrastructure for recycling of plastic waste.’

Throwing light on the company’s focus towards environment protection, Dinesh Jain, president, Legal and Corporate Affairs at Uflex said, ‘We believe in co-existence of sustainability and business, and it is incumbent on us to take care of our environment with ethical and safe practices such that the utility of our product persists without any harm to the environment. We have ensured that these two lines follow a zero-emission practice to convert MLP and PET bottles waste into recoverable.’

Washing and recycling lines at Noida plant include -

PET bottle line (PCR line) – The Post Consumer Recyclate (PCR line) at Uflex is set up with the objective to recycle PET bottles, used and discarded by consumers, to form chips. The PET bottles go through the process of crushing and washing and finally get dried up before it reaches the extruder to form chips. Since the PET bottles are transparent and virgin in nature, chips derived as a result of recycling process are further upcycled to manufacture a range of PCR grade BOPET film from UFlex called Asclepius. The Asclepius film can be used and reused for multiple applications like packaging and label material, creating a loop economy.

The PCR line will recycle used PET bottles collected by NGOs and waste collection agencies from Delhi-NCR. The line has the capacity to recycle upto 600 tonnes of PET Bottle waste a month.

The MLP film line (PCPR Line) – The Post-Consumer Plastic Recyclate (PCPR) line at Uflex Noida plant washes and recycles post-consumer MLP waste and convert them into granules. The PCPR line also passes the waste through the same process of crushing and washing before forming granules. The granules derived can be used to form more than 10,000 industrial and household products like flower pots, outdoor furniture, bucket, dustbins, paver tiles, road dividers, amongst others.

The post-consumer MLP waste collected from Delhi-NCR is sourced from NGOs, producer responsibility organizations (PRO) as well as producers and brand owners directly. The PCPR line has a capacity to wash and recycle upto 500 tonnes of MLP waste in a month.