Hamburg, Germany-based Cirplus GmbH, which offers a platform in Europe for the trading of recycled-content plastics, has announced its expansion to India in what it calls a “strategic move to cater to growing demand for recycled plastics in India and the broader Asian markets.”
The company says the move, which includes the hiring of a Mumbai-based staff member, is being made “to focus on increasing the availability and quality of recycled plastics globally as well as driving the transition from virgin to recycled materials.”
Cirplus describes India as recently having introduced “progressive regulations for plastics, creating a favorable business environment for recycled plastics whose ambition surpasses the EU’s.”
Under regulations such as the Plastic Waste Management Rules of 2022 and the India Plastic Pact, Cirplus says producers, importers and brand owners are required to “significantly increase the use of recycled content in all types of packaging sold on the Indian market, encompassing the full scope of packaging from rigid to flexibles to multilayered.”
The regulations mandate targets of from 5 percent to 30 percent recycled content in some plastic applications as early as 2025, says the company.
“We are excited to bring our digital procurement solution to the Asian market and support the transformation of the plastics recycling landscape at a global scale,” says Christian Schiller, CEO and founder of Cirplus.
“With the expansion, we will not only address one of the most pressing environmental challenges but also create significant opportunities for businesses and communities across India and Asia,” says Schiller. “With our proven model and expertise for digitally enabled sourcing of postconsumer and post-industrial recycled plastics, we offer brand owners and converters around the world a comprehensive, convenient and cost-efficient way of meeting their procurement targets.”
The new Asian subsidiary will be based out of Mumbai and led by Ramesh Parasuraman, who Cirplus says brings with him 30 years of experience in the plastics industry. Parasuraman currently serves as founder and managing director of Allied Solutions India, which distributes plastics processing machinery, and is president of the Society of Plastics Engineers India.
Cirplus says services it provides in Europe and intends to bring to India include “supplier matching, material aggregation and qualification, logistics and quality control to help plastic processors access high-quality recycled plastics at scale in reliable quantities.”
The company, which says it attracted investment capital earlier this year, says its platform “ensures transparency, efficiency and traceability in the recycled plastics supply chain.
Courtesy : recyclingtoday.com
