‘Growing demand of plastic is increasing responsibility of recycling’
| Date :15-Mar-2019 |
Business Bureau,
“There is a need to use recycled plastic material simultaneous with virgin plastic. The growing demand of plastic goods is increasing the responsibility of recycling plastic,” said Unmesh Nayak, Head PE Business, Reliance Industries Ltd. He was talking on the topic ‘ERP and way forward.’ He was the chief guest at a programme organised by Vidarbha Plastic Industries Association (VPIA) in collaboration with RIL, AIPMA, IPI and Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA). He discussed on how to work on solid waste management, garbage collection, recycling, processing and how to face the recycling related challenges. “The concept of recycling has to be redefined to upcycling,” he added. Sushil Agrawal, Director, Haldiram Foods Ltd was the guest of honour. He emphaised on the role of each key stakeholder in the process of manufacturing the end product. “Holding only the end user responsible is not the long term solution,” he said.
Abhijit Parekh, Partner, Lucro explained about buy back and recycling process. He suggested solutions that create an effective after-use plastics economy by improving the economics, uptake of recycling, reuse and controlled biodegradation for targeted applications and drastically reduce leakage of plastics into natural systems in particular the ocean and other negative externalities. Rajesh Gauba, Vice-President, Recycling and Sustainability, Reliance Industries Ltd discussed on EPR evolution. He highlighted on implementation of EPR in India. “India is already recycling 60 per cent of the plastic waste which is 20 per cent higher than the European countries. Plastic waste is a global challenge. India has an unorganised recycling structure which needs to be upgraded. Issue of littering can be resolved though the EPR funding by adding value.
This will create additional income stream for unorganised workers. Existing system should be supplemented and EPR framework should be supported by single unified digital platform”, he added. Panel discussion was also conducted on EPR, its challenges and solution. The eminent panellists were Hiten Bheda, Chairman, Environment Committee, AIPMA, Anirudha Jalan, V-P Strategy, Recycle.com and Girdhari Mantri, Chairman CSR Forum, VIA. They gave the past and current status of the Government on the Effective Plastic Recycling issue. Mahima Suri, Marketing and BD Head, Suritex Pvt Ltd emphasised on learning from other sectors like e-waste recycling. The new definition of Effective Plastic Recycling (EPR) was also suggested by Paliwali from Chandrapur. The participants at the programme were mainly industry leaders and experts from the region, were enthused to ask more questions and have a deeper understanding of the subject. The programme was conducted by Rakesh Surana, President of VPIA and Dr Prashant Agrawal, Secretary of VPIA.