UFlex announces global initiative ‘Project Plastic Fix’

India's flexible packaging company, UFlex, has launched Project Plastic Fix, a sustainability initiative designed to clean up plastic waste and convert it into products that have an economic value.

“I believe that while plastic cannot be removed from everyday living, it can be used responsibly. We can have a solution to use the plastic that the world has already manufactured and ensure that it gets recycled and reused in the economy, in a variety of ways, without affecting the ecology,” said Anantshree Chaturvedi, Vice Chairman & CEO of FlexFilms International.

“Project Plastic Fix advocates the message that the problem of plastic is fixable, achievable and there will come a time when we will look back and not believe that this problem ever existed.”

The initiative aims to eradicate plastic waste in four distinct ways through a mix of various methodologies UFlex already practices, such as:

1. Recycling plastic waste into granules further used to make over 10,000 household and industrial products like road dividers, outdoor furniture, dustbins and many more useful articles;

2. Reprocessing plastic waste into fuel through a process called Pyrolysis that emits zero greenhouse emission;

3. Collecting and converting plastic bottle waste into green, up to 100% PCR grade packaging film Asclepius; and

4. Converting plastic waste into 100% biodegradable biomass.

According to UFlex, Project Plastic Fix is the “only project in the world that will have the technology to make plastic recyclable and biodegradable”.

A feature of Project Plastic Fix is that waste collection will be done by individuals directly engaged by UFlex, thus eliminating the “middleman” that typically would see the largest benefit from these transactions. Uflex said this can contribute to poverty alleviation as the person responsible for collecting and depositing the waste receives the maximum return.

The initiative is being piloted in India, Poland and Mexico. UFlex will be looking at additional locations along the U.S. East Coast and in the United Kingdom later.