After witnessing a significant growth of the biopolymer industry worldwide, is it worth delaying more for India to establish the first biopolymer manufacturing plant?
Though many companies and research institutes are working to establish commercial technology to manufacture biopolymers in India; lack of awareness, strict government policy and government support are affecting the growth in the biopolymer industry. Moreover, as all the raw materials of the industry are agricultural products; a sound management system for the agricultural product for industrial use is required.
Global players in the Biopolymer industry are actively scouting for countries with rich agricultural products and supportive government policy to setup biopolymer manufacturing facilities.
The biopolymer manufacturing plant in Thailand, Brazil, Spain, China, France and USA are the biggest examples. Then why not India!
Few players including us are actively working on establishing commercial technology to manufacture biopolymer material in India. We have successfully established lab-scale manufacturing of PLA(polylactic acid) and developed the technology to manufacture at a commercial scale with the collaboration with IIT Guwahati. A pilot plant of 100 Mt capacity will be built up soon from the developed indigenous commercial technology in Gujarat. After the pilot plant, we immediately would like to go for a commercial plant with a capacity of at least 50,000 Mt per annum. To establish a large-scale production facility all over India, everyone should work collaboratively and focus on a futuristic larger goal.
An alarming rate of increase in pollution and global warming suggests that this is a need of an hour to go sustainable. Innovation in sustainable technologies is the only way ahead to keep humans alive on Earth.
Currently, single-use plastic products made of biopolymers are already available in the market. Most of the packaging products in airports, airlines, food chain outlets, multinational grocery stores and shopping malls are sustainable. The usage is increasing day by day proportional to awareness in the public and effective government policy.
To consume a gigantic market of single-use plastic, collaborative work with experts all over India is essential and set up the commercial plants at various locations of India as per the availability of suitable raw materials nearby.
Let’s make society aware of the importance of sustainable solutions and contribute towards a sustainable future to keep humans alive for generations.