Hyderabad : An International Seminar on India’s Industrial Growth Scope for Plastic Industries was held in conjunction with IPLEX,-14, the International Plastics Exposition here in city on 9th August at 9.30am at Auditorium on the 2nd Floor of Administrative Building of HITEX Exhibition Centre, Madhapur informed V. Anil Reddy, Convener of IPLEX-14.

The Seminar was formally inaugurated by Indrajit Pal, Secretary C& PC, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Govt. of India. . Prof. Abhijit P. Deshpande, Professor IIT Chennai delivered the Key Note address on “Smart Polymers and Futuristic Applications”

Eminent speakers from Polymers, Additives and Machinery sectors presented technical papers.  Some of the speaker include  Ajay Tandaon, Uflex Ltd on “Modern Trends & Advancement in Flexible Printing”; Mangesh Utane—Ampacet Corporation. on “Plasticulture in Agriculture – Role of Master Batches”;  Manish Vasavada, Rajoo Engineering Wordks on “Advance Blown Film Technology”; Satwik Mahapatra, Exxonmobil India Pvt Ltd . on “Exceed and Enable mPE resins: Value added solutions for Lamination Film”; Vivek Mehta of India Oil Corporation. on “Pipe Sector” and N.K. Ramaswamy of Hydros S&S Industries Ltd . on “TOSAF Additive Master Batches for Agriculture Applications.”

The Second Day saw many visitors busy enquiring about products.  All most all the machinery on display said to have been already sold.

Some of the prominent exhibitors include Borouge India Ltd, which is a leader provider of innovative, value creating plastics solutions. It is a joint venture company between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company(ADNOC), one of the world’s major oil and gas companies and Asutria based Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions.

Another exhibitor is Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment(ICPE) is a non-profit, independent body. It works with a vision is to improve the knowledge and understanding of the environmental benefits of plastics.  It works with government and local bodies. This body is set up on the recommendation of a Task Force constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest(MoEF).  It is a nodal agency to handle all issues related to Plastics and the Environment in the country.  According to ICPE, the studies have shown that, plastics contribute only about 6% of our municipal sold waste(MSW) in large metros.  The figures is much less in smaller cities which means the other 94% is made up other materials.  So the issues is not of plastic disposal, but of garbage disposal and ant-littering, it says.

Therefore ICPE has undertaken a program to spread the message among the citizens informed Sudheer Khurana, Senior Program Officer. According to ICPE “Plastics are 100% Recyclable”.  He has asked people to put litter  and waste in its place.  We can unleash the value of the waste if each household separates its waste into wet and dry.  This is called the ‘bin culture”, which need to publicized, he said.

Another Important thing in Plastic Waste Management is Recycling besides segregation. All kind of mixed plastics waste can be used for the consrtruction of Asphalt Road.  It can be co-pprocessed in cement kilns, as a source of energy.  It can even be converted into Hydrocarbon Fuel. Used milk pouches can get converted into Barsati Films; empty battery packs into low quality luggage; discarded plastic bags can be converted into Niwar Patti.; PET Bottles Waste can be recycled into plastic granules; fiber filling Pillows into Rugged floor carpets  and kids toys can be recycled into mattresses, informed Sudheer.

India Recycles close to 4 million tons of plastic waste annually. It is the high rate compared to International Standards.  Even, PET bottles can be recycled  to create wide range of utility products, Sudheere informed.

According to ICPE, It’s my world promotional booklet 7,00,000 tress can be saved annually by using plastic for packaging and transporting apples alone.  The average consumption of Plastics in India is 7 kgs against the world average of 29kgs.  Similarly plastic furniture has helped save 1,40,000 cubic metres of wood.  Plastics are used to make medical blister packs, life saving saline packs, blood bags and aseptic syringes.

The IPLEX14, South India’s biggest Plastics Exposition has 250 exhibitors from 10 countries such as China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Abu Dhabi and other countries.  Indian Oil Corporatino, GAIL, Reliance Industries Ltd, Reliance Packagings,  etc have stalls.

Spread over 11000 sq meters in 3 AC halls, it is the biggest fair for plastics in South India.  During these four days the expected business is put at US $ 100 million.  Mr. Anil Reddy is confident of surpassing this expectation, as the response is overwhelming, he said.

Some of these Exhibitors include: Borouge Pte Ltd; Jon Wai Machinery Work Co.,Ltd, IEBC Business Cosulting (Beijing) Co. Ltd; Hsing Wei Machine Industry Co. Ltd; Steady Stream Business, HIWIN Technologies Corp; Huarong Plastic Machinery Co., Hemingstone Machinery Co Ltd, WE Technology Automation Co. Ltd, DIHZHOUT, UFLEX Engineering, Ashwin Engineers, Neoplast, Shubham Extrusion Technik Pvt. Ltd; Sudhakar Pipes & Fittings, Presto Testing Instruments.

One important aspect of this expo is Plasticulture ie.  the practice of using plastic materials in agricultural applications. A stall on NCPAH(National Committee on Plasticulture Applications in Horticulture). It is constituted in the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), Govt. of India to focus in a coordinated manner to popularize adoption of various plasticulture applications in horticulture & over all development of plasticulture applications in the country. This stall is a must to visit stall