Page 35 - Plastics News November 2025
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COMPANY NEWS
THIS PUNE STARTUP IS BANKING ON TECH TO END
THE ‘UNRECYCLABLE’ PLASTIC PANDEMIC
some laws against excessive plastic usage,
there’s just no end to the plastic dominion. Recy-
cling is often said to be the answer, but this does
not cover metalised multilayered plastic or MLP.
As per India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change, plastics that have a code
number 7 are multilayered plastic.
This type of plastic waste includes packets of
chips and other packaged food, wrappers,
shampoo sachets and other items that are rou-
tinely found on Indian streets. If this waste is
even collected, less than 1% of it is recycled, says
♦ Founded in 2020, WITHOUT collects MLP, Anish Malpani.
and its patented technology separates the
layers before using the material for manu- What makes matters worse is that India is also
facturing products including eyewear, but- home to more than 4 Mn informal waste pickers,
tons, bottles and signage who are exposed to critical health conditions
caused by handling sharp, mixed, and contami-
♦ WITHOUT already has one patent for its nated waste Without proper procedure. They
technology and filed for for two more pat- are not trained to distinguish between the dif-
ents for the formulation and process of puri- ferent types of plastics and why it’s essential to
fication of the triacetylic acid
keep MLP separate from the rest.
♦ The startup inaugrated its demonstration
plant in Pune this month, which is capable While recycling plastic is not a new cause, making
of processing up to 5 tonnes per month of something out of “unrecyclable plastic waste” is
complex post-consumer waste including yet to gain momentum.
multi-layered plastics and soiled textiles Founded in 2020, WITHOUT begins at the waste
collection. The startup collects MLP, and its pat-
India, which is said to be the world’s largest plas-
tic polluter, is creating around 9.3 Mn tonnes of ented technology separates the layers before
plastic waste every year—that’s nearly 20% of using the material for manufacturing products
the global total. In fact, traces of plastic have including eyewear, buttons, bottles and signage.
been found in the deepest and most inaccessi- WITHOUT, started as a bootstrapped company,
ble parts of the world. received a grant of $150,000 from Unilever for
its research and development phase.
Even though most states and countries have
The company recently closed a $1.9 Mn seed
November 2025 PLASTICS NEWS 35
