Viridis to invest Rs.30 m
Recycled plastic to manufacture finished products:
Lumbini Edirisinghe
|
Shanaka Fernando |
There is an excellent untapped market for recycled plastic raw
materials in UK, China, Israel and UAE. Sri Lanka needs to explore
opportunities in these markets and later on venture into exporting
innovative products manufactured using recycled plastic material,
Director, Viridis Pvt Ltd, Shanaka Fernando said.
At the moment our company is exporting recycled plastics as raw
materials and planning to export value added finished products made from
recycled plastics instead of exporting raw materials, he said. We are to
invest Rs.30 million on manufacturing finished products using recycled
plastic materials.
There is a huge demand for finish products such as packaging of
exclusive designer wear and the packages of soft toys. However, still we
have not decided which finished products we will manufacture with our
expansion program. This will be decided based on the demand for each
product. We are expecting to commence operations for this project next
year.
|
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste
plastics and reprocessing the material into useful products,
sometimes completely different in form from their original
state. For instance, this could mean melting down soft drink
bottles, then casting them as plastic chairs and tables. Here
workers at the Viridis Pvt Ltd separating plastic waste at their
premises. |
Fernando said that in addition to the foreign exchange this project
could deliver many other advantages to the country. This will create
more job opportunities and is one of the best ways to keep the country
clean and green. On the other hand it is also a very profitable
investment.
Supplying waste plastics and PET is challenging and we need to
educate the public on how to recycle plastic waste. People prefer
plastic as they are light, cheap and portable. However, annually large
amount of waste plastic is added to the environment which destroys the
eco system. People just throw or burn them without understanding the
lucrative money earning capacity in them, he said.
We have got a successful mechanism to collect plastic like PET and
polythene island wide with the assistance of six other companies where
we set plastic waste to a recycling process and produce clean form
pellets. We collect average 50 MT of PET per month, Fernando added.
The company works closely with the companies, which dispose plastics
as a result of their manufacturing process and help them to minimize
their environmental impact. There is a good respond from these companies
and companies could join with us for better management of their plastic
waste, he said.
“We export our products to UK, China, Israel and UAE since 2005 and
the outcomes are very successful. We are getting positive feedback and
exploring new markets. |
