Page 26 - Plastics News November 2025
P. 26
ENVIRONMENT NEWS
WITHOUT® LAUNCHES PIONEERING
PLASTIC RECYCLING PLANT IN PUNE
fledged commercial plant slated for next year.
This milestone is boosted by the support of truly
patient impact investors through the close of a
$1.9 million (approximately INR 16.8 crore) Seed
Funding Round, led by Rewilding Wealth. The
round also saw participation from actor-environ-
mentalist Dia Mirza, impact fund Spectrum Im-
pact, ex-Unilever's Packaging Lead, Veena More
and Acko co-founder Vishwanath Ramarao. Dia
Mirza also comes on board Without as a stra-
tegic advisor, investor and advocate. This fund-
ing represents a rare instance of truly patient
impact capital in the climate tech space, ena-
bling Without to prioritise long-term systems
innovation over short-term returns, a luxury not
often afforded to early-stage ventures in this
he impact-first deep-tech, cutting-edge domain. This move marks a significant milestone
FOAK Demonstration plant is capable of in the company's plan to commercialise its pro-
Tprocessing up to 5 tonnes/month of ‘un- prietary recycling technology and scale its foot-
recyclable’ plastic waste. print across India and global B2B markets.
Without, a Pune-based impact-first deep- Without's biggest competitive advantage is its
tech material science enterprise, announces the patented process chemo-mechanically extracts
launch of its pioneering FOAK recycling demon- raw materials from the most complex post-con-
stration plant in Pune, a move that aims to bridge sumer waste like multi-layered plastic (e.g., chip
the gap between innovation and inclusivity. The packets, chocolate wrappers) and soiled textiles
launch marks one of India's first integrated facili- into high-grade polyolefins (VERDiFLX ) and
TM
ties capable of processing up to 5 tonnes/month terephthalic acid (VERDiTPA ). Unlike pyrolysis
TM
of ‘unrecyclable’ plastic waste. The 1,030 sq.m or co-processing, Without's technology retains
facility houses end-to-end processing, from ma- material value, runs on lower energy and is mod-
terial intake and separation to chemical transfor- ularly scalable for urban and semi-urban deploy-
mation, purification, and product manufacturing, ment.
with quality control and fully-stacked chemical
lab testing embedded into a single operational Anish Malpani, Founder and Director of Without
stack. This FOAK plant is a precursor to a fully- said, "This raise is not just about scale, it's about
26 PLASTICS NEWS November 2025
