Closing the loop

Plastic recycling in India is an extensively decentralised and distributed process today. There is a need to centralise and bring cohesion in the plastic waste management ecosystem, says Sanjay Kapote, CEO, Manjushree Technopack Ltd. (MTL)

- Niranjan Mudholkar

What exactly is the ‘Born Again’ initiative? How much have you invested for the same?

Plastic, a universal material mass used across applications has been largely misunderstood. Out of all the packaging materials available today, Plastic conversion has the least environmental impact. The real challenge is in the end-of-life management of this wonder material.

Born Again is our effort to build a consumption ecosystem that effectively manages the collection and treatment of plastic that has reached its end-of-life. Born Again is a business, vertically integrated with the plastic waste collection environment, with an objective to reduce the amount of plastic waste going to landfills and to deliver virgin-like quality Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) PP and HDPE resin to our customers.

We have invested Rs.21 crore in our first plant that was commissioned in June this year. We plan to invest another Rs.75 crore over the next four to five years to setup similar plants across India.

What prompted Manjushree Technopack Ltd. (MTL) to undertake this initiative?

For over 40+ years we have been India’s leading plastic converter, supporting over 500 FMCG companies in packaging their products. It is our continuous endeavor to make plastic sustainable. Over the years we have undertaken several sustainability initiatives like reuse of our manufacturing excess, light weighting of containers and preforms, design innovations for plastic reduction.

The Recycling unit is our effort to close the loop on plastic consumption and to fulfill our Reduce, Reuse and Recycle motto.