UFlex showcases circularity in multilayered plastics

At the AEPW board meeting in New York, Chaturvedi made a strong case for the continued and ubiquitous use of multi-layer mixed plastic (MLP) that provide a barrier required for packaging of several essential items including food products; enable high-speed packing; are cost-effective, and are 100 percent recyclable. 

 

Chaturvedi’s presentation to the AEPW Board included a virtual walkthrough of the UFlex recycling facilities at Noida, Poland and Mexico to recycle and upcycle post-consumer multi-layer mixed plastic waste into value-added household and industrial plastic products such as dustbins, outdoor furniture, and more. UFlex runs an advanced injection molding facility at its Noida site established to recycle granules and to demonstrate possibilities to the molding industry. Today, decorative, functional, engineering parts, household and office products, and hundreds of other articles are being manufactured with recycled granules at the company’s recycling facilities. 

 

UFlex has recycled more than half a million tons of multi-layer mixed plastic waste (MLP) so far and has spent more than 20 million USD in the last financial year at its Poland and Mexico sites. 

 

The manufacturer runs a global sustainability initiative called ‘Project Plastic Fix’. This initiative is aligned with the company’s sustainability approach of 4Rs to tackle the challenge of reducing stock and flow of plastic waste in the environment ꟷ reduce plastic at source by manufacturing and using films made from PCR; recycle via upcycling and downcycling of MLP and PET containers, covers, other articles and bottles; reuse as source substitution via Pyrolysis; return to the planet in the form of biomass, if the plastic waste remains uncollected. 

 

Chaturvedi volunteered to provide technical knowledge and related support to any organization or country that would like to replicate and scale recycling infrastructure to pivot to a circular economy. He urged brand owners and civic bodies across regions and countries to collaborate and strengthen the recycling value chain.