Manjushree Technopack Limited (MTL), India’s largest rigid plastics packaging company, has launched its new initiative Born Again to deliver recycled packaging material to the FMCG Industry. The first of the company’s state-of-the-art recycling plants was inaugurated on 15 June in Bidadi Industrial Area, Bengaluru. The plant has the capacity to process more than 6,000 metric tonnes (MT) of rigid plastic virgin-like quality PCR resin per annum. The company intends to set up multiple recycling plants across India over the next two years with a total capacity of close to 20,000 MT.
Born Again, (a venture under MTL New Initiatives Ltd), is MTL’s first step towards building an ecosystem of circular consumption. It is vertically integrated with the plastic waste collection ecosystem, with an objective to reduce the amount of plastic waste going to landfills and to deliver virgin-like quality PCR (post-consumer recycled) resin (PP and HDPE) to FMCG customers.
Sanjay Kapote, chief executive officer of MTL commented, “Sustainability is an integral part of our business goals. Today, brands are eagerly looking for reliable solution providers who can help them with post-consumer recyclable waste material of their products. We are very keen to support the circular economy and strongly see the potential to become one of the few players in the industry to offer brands end-to-end solutions for recycling and EPR (extended producer responsibility). MTL’s recycling plant in Bangalore and our collaboration with SZW is our first step towards bringing more structure to the highly unorganized collection of plastic waste.”
According to the company’s press release, the demand for post-consumer recyclables (PCR plastics) is projected to grow from US$ 7.7 billion (approximately Rs 60,000 crore) in 2019 to US$ 10.2 billion (approximately Rs 80,000 crore) by 2024. However, the biggest factor hindering the production of PCR at scale in India is the unorganized waste collection and segregation mechanism leading to scrap contamination, according to MTL.
For the recycling plant in Bengaluru, MTL has partnered with a leading social enterprise, Saahas Zero Waste (SZW) to collect the plastic waste generated across the city. SZW manages 38 tonnes of waste per day across Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Goa.
