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FLEXIBLE PACKAGING WASTE PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT

Mrs Almitra H Patel,

Member, Supreme Court Committee

for Solid Waste Management

almitrapatel@rediffmail.com

www.almitrapatel.com

Current Recycling Options

PE, PP, PS can all be recycled to

gatta (lumps), daana (pellets) and

products: Pipe, Hard plastic articles,

some film tubing.

Soiled mixed-films (carrybags, road litter)

can be usefully shredded to improve tar

roads: over 5000 km since 2004. 2

Shredded Plastic Film Doubles Road Life

Mixed plastic film is shredded to 2-4mm size and

sprinkled onto heated mixed-stone aggregate.

30-second mixing time allows plastics to soften and

uniformly coat hot stones like a baked-on primer.

Molten asphalt added to this adheres well, doubles

road life, reduces potholes, improves wet strength.

See Central Pollution Control Board’s guidelines:

PROBES/101/2005-06 & PROBES/122/2008-093

Current Recycling Problems

Metallised multi-layer snack-food packaging is a national headache countrywide. No recycler wants it.

The problem is nylon or polyester content which is incompatible with recycling of thermoplastic film components.

Aluminium films block the wire-mesh strainers in gatta-making extruders, causing frequent down-time and cost.

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Current Multifilm DisposalBurnt on roadsides, taken to open dumps.

P2F polymer-to-fuel is a new option of

unproven viability: its low bulk-density

needs a large reactor volume, very costly

transport from doorstep collector to P2F unit.

Ideal opportunity for producers to comply with

mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility:

100% depreciation for pollution abatement on mobile units operated for municipalities.

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Design for Recycling / Disposal Use only compatible thermoplastic layers.

Eliminate nylon and polyester layers.

Work with plastics recyclers.

For toffee wrappers,mini–sachets,pesti-

cide pkg, use Compostable multifilms of

BIS/ ISO 17088 / ASTM D6400-99 / EN 13432

Use Compostable bio-plastic barrier-films

in sanitary napkins & disposable diapers. 6