1. FLEXIBLE PACKAGING WASTE PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT
Mrs Almitra H Patel,
Member, Supreme Court Committee
for Solid Waste Management

2. 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.

3. 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/ & PROBES/122/

4. 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.

5. Current Multifilm Disposal
Burnt 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.

6. 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 / ASTM D / EN 13432
Use Compostable bio-plastic barrier-films
in sanitary napkins & disposable diapers.