The world is awakening to the pressing need to save the Mother Earth from drowning into the plastic pollution. People and countries across the globe are looking at alternatives to reduce the impact on the environment, and become more sustainable and greener.
Today, plastic waste has become a major environmental concern. While on one hand, industries are looking at plastic as a more flexible, convenient and cost efficient material for products, on the other hand plastic products and packaging have been creating environmental hazard around the world. According to UN Environment, 1 million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute around the world and 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. Interestingly, around half of all plastic produced in the world is designed to be used only once and then thrown away, which most of the time end up in landfills or pollute our water resources.
At the rate that we are moving ahead, it is believed that our oceans will be flooded with more plastic than fishes by 2050. Hence, it is a wakeup call for all of us to introspect, reimagine and act towards embracing recycling as An Idea Whose Time Has Come. The future is of reduce, recycle and reuse.
Businesses and countries are working towards finding ways to become more sustainable and greener. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has further reinforced the thought of restoration of nature and its resources to keep mankind and the Earth healthy. It is a defining time for sustainable development and circular economy.
Ganesha Ecosphere has been a forerunner in recycling of PET bottles. The company is evolving to look at alternate or virgin materials to produce sustainable products out of PET bottle waste that enable its partners achieve their sustainability goals and the global mission to make world a better place to live.
The journey of turning waste into wealth
Initiating its journey in 1987, Ganesha Ecosphere stepped into the unconventional business of sustainability and environmental care back in 1995 with its modest PET bottle recycling plant. From then and now, the world has moved fast and so has the usage, production and need for recycling of PET bottles.
Today, Ganesha Ecosphere is the leading recycler of PET bottles in India with more than 6 billion PET bottles recycled annually. Driven by the aim of turning waste into wealth, the company has been innovating and producing value-added RPSF (Recycled Polyester Staple Fibre) that find application in the manufacture of textiles (T-Shirts, body warmers etc.), functional textiles (non-woven air filter fabric, geo textiles, carpets, car upholstery) and fillings (for pillows, duvets, toys) across the world.
Ganesha Ecosphere has been helping some of the largest and renowned brands in achieving their sustainability goals through its products. The company has been collecting and recycling PET bottles through its pan-India network of scrap dealers and contractors, who in turn work through rag pickers for supplying the PET plastic waste to us.
Ganesha Ecosphere’s manufacturing units have cumulative capacity of 1,18,800 MTPA (1,08,600 TPA of RPSF and 7200 TPA of RPSY and 3000 TPA of Dyed and Texturised/ Twisted Filament Yarn) of rPET Fibre and Yarn. The Group is also in the process of setting up a plant at Telangana that is expected to be operational by Q1FY23. In addition to this, the company is planning to setup a washing and chips unit in Nepal by December 2021.
Mr. Shyam Sunder Sharmma, Chairman, Ganesha Ecoshpere said, “In our journey to become a premium and sustainable player in the market, we have been strengthening our R&D capabilities and developing newer value-added products such as anti-microbial products, fibres for paper and construction industry, micro filament fibre, mono fibre and biodegradable fibre etc”.
Digitization
Digitalisation is changing the face of manufacturing with newer technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Machine Learning (ML), and Internet of Things (IoT) enabling a seamless environment for operations. Ganesha Ecosphere, is planning to transform into a digitally-led organization. As part of the effort, the company has been equipping its manufacturing operations with digital tools to realise smart manufacturing. From digital displays of rack comparison points to remote monitoring of operations and alert systems to automation, Ganesha Ecosphere has been embracing digital at fast pace.
While technology adoption and embracing of Industry 4.0 remains an integral part of its future ready process, the company is also strengthening its R&D capabilities to remain sustainable in the market. Ganesha Ecosphere introduced biodegradable and antimicrobial fibres. Ganesha Bio-R, the biodegradable PET recycled polyester staple fibre is most ideal to be used for single use wipes and diapers. The Antimicrobial fibre provides protection against Bacteria and Virus and suited for hospitals, hotels, sports and travel Industry.
Ganesha is also working on providing DNA traceability into the polyester staple fiber it produces. This will enable the company to have physical traceability into the tagged fibre from the slurce readt garments fibre to garments. It will be a key milestone in its sustainability drive.