Page 49 - Plastics News January 2023

FEATURE

What it will take to build a circular economy in 2023

incentivising innovations. He feels that
two things will make the difference —
the draft policy for a circular economy
in the electronics and electrical sector
becoming a law, and the 2022 e-waste
policy, to be operational by April
2023, in which the EPR regulations
were expanded to 300 products.
Ravi Neeladri, CEO, Cerebra Green
also dwells on the upcoming e-waste
rules. He is specifically happy about
how they will impact refurbishing of
products. “Regeneration rather than
just recycling helps create a more sus-
tainable environment. By refurbishing,
ip service to recycling comes dia, one of the earliest movers who the end of life of a device can be ex-
Lfrom every corner of the industry developed the Reverse Vending Ma- tended, thus eliminating the need to
spectrum— be it plastic, electronic, chine to recycle used plastic bottles mine metals and other resources for
manufacturing or packaging. But the at source, talks about the two aspects manufacturing new devices,” he says.
situation on the ground in India tells of recycling waste—convenience and Moreover, the new rules require
you another story with the country economy. He says we need to see every refurbished electronic device to
generating 62 million tonnes of waste waste as raw material that feeds a re- meet standards set by the Bureau of
each year. Of this around 43 million cycling plant, and to enhance recycling Indian Standards.
tonnes is collected and only 12 million segregated waste needs to be sent to Targets and stringent laws are ur-
tonnes is treated. A shocking 31 mil- a plant. Hence, source segregation is gently needed for industrial waste
lion tonnes is dumped in landfills, tell- of utmost importance across states. recycling as well. Annanya Agarwal,
ing us the harsh truth. “According to recent news India lifted Co-founder, Runaya Refining feels that

Though the government has formulat- the import ban on recycled raw mate- the government and decision-makers
ed policies to “transition the country rial due to shortages. This is a huge need to ensure that industries under-
from a linear to a circular economy” set back. While you have mountains stand recycling and its resulting ben-
and notified rules in the waste man- of waste lying, we are allowing import efits. He says technology intervention
agement of plastics, e-waste, metals, of processed wastes,” he rues. in turning waste into wealth has been
construction and demolition, we are Mishra points out that economy of the game changer in recycling.
simply not moving fast enough in de- scale and viability is a key challenge in For Jeevaraj Pillai, Joint President
ploying our waste in a manner that it recycling. To bring the cost of recycled (Flexible Packaging Business and New
can become a resource. So, what can raw material closer to virgin material Product Development), UFlex Limit-
be done in the coming year to expe- the supply chain must be improved as ed mechanisation is the key, including
dite the process and save our landfills this contributes between 70 to 80 per AI-enabled sorting of waste. That is
from materials that could create both cent of the total cost. what will give scale and maximise re-
cash and jobs. One of the largest battery and e- cycling. But for this a policy to encour-

Businessline asked a few industry ex- waste recyclers, Attero Recycling bets age investments has to be put in place
perts in different streams of waste to on science and technology to take re- — a thought echoed by all the others.
recommend the best way forward. cycling forward. Having developed 34
Let’s see what they say: global patents, co-founder and CEO

Ajay Mishra, Founder of Biocrux In- Nitin Gupta emphasises the need for

January 2023 PLASTICS NEWS 49