The collaboration aims to extract low-grade plastics for use as feedstock for chemical recycling projects
Re Sustainability Limited, formerly known as Ramky Enviro Engineers and Asia's largest integrated waste management company, has joined forces with PolyCycl Private Limited, a pioneer in the chemical recycling of post-consumer plastics. Together, they have announced a business collaboration to develop a network of feedstock facilities in India for the chemical recycling of plastics.
The primary goal of this collaboration is to extract low-grade plastics, including single-use flexible films and packaging waste, from various sources and prepare them as feedstock for chemical recycling projects managed by PolyCycl and its partners. Such plastics typically consist of a mix of different resins and are often heavily contaminated, making them unsuitable for conversion into pellets using conventional mechanical recycling methods.
By harnessing chemical recycling techniques, these plastics will be transformed into a range of hydrocarbon molecules, serving as essential building blocks for the production of sustainable circular polymers, green chemicals, and renewable fuels.
The initial sorting and pre-processing facility is planned to be established in Delhi. According to data from India's Central Pollution Control Board, more than 10,000 tonnes of waste plastic find their way into landfills across the country each day. Globally, over 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, with over 5.0 billion tonnes currently disposed of in landfills worldwide.
Amit Tandon, CEO of PolyCycl, stated, "From a material perspective, waste plastics are a reserve of hydrocarbons that we have sitting above the ground. While they currently pose environmental and societal challenges, our collaboration with Re Sustainability aims to convert them into a valuable resource for a plastic-to-plastic circular economy.
Through this collaboration, we are excited to demonstrate the commercial-scale extraction of low-grade waste plastics from landfills using automated and high-throughput methods. A significant portion of such plastics cannot be recycled using conventional methods, and the collaboration aims to increase the amount of plastic being recycled in the country."
Mr. Masood Mallick, CEO of Re Sustainability Limited, emphasised, "Re Sustainability's journey towards sustainable resource recovery and a circular economy demonstrates our commitment to creating long-term value and building resilience for a more sustainable world. We see green innovation and partnerships as the two most significant drivers of the circular economy in India, enabling both environmental protection and resource recovery at scale."