Strategic Move: Cirplus Expands to India
The European platform for recycled plastics procurement, Cirplus, has announced its strategic expansion to India. The goal is to supply the growing demand for recycled plastics in India and the broader Asian markets. Furthermore, there are different business opportunities.
As reported, Cirplus’ subsidiary will be based out of Mumbai and led by Ramesh Parasuraman, who brings 30 years of experience in the plastics industry. Currently, he serves as Founder & Managing Director of Allied Solutions India and President of the Society of Plastics Engineers India.
With this strategic move, the German-based organization aims to focus on increasing the availability and quality of recycled plastics globally as well as driving the transition from virgin to recycled materials, the press release underlined. “India has recently introduced progressive regulations for plastics, creating a favorable business environment for recycled plastics whose ambition surpasses the EU’s. Under these new regulations (Plastic Waste Management Rules 2022 and India Plastic Pact), producers, importers and brand owners are required – inter alia – 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 and mandating targets between five and 30 percent as early as 2025. These new frameworks are intended to boost the swift transformation of companies to shift away from virgin plastics and offer investors a reliable framework to build up new and improved capacities in recycling.”
Digital solution + services + business opportunities
“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”, Christian Schiller, CEO and founder of Cirplus, was cited. “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. With our proven model and expertise for digitally enabled sourcing of post-consumer 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.”
As in Europe, the company intends to provide services, including 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 would further leverage its expertise “in standardizing recyclates as the initiator of the world’s first standards on high-quality recycling and digitization, DIN SPEC 91446/EN 18065, and its proven track record of creating the digital infrastructure necessary to manage even more complex material streams, introducing Digital Product Passports that comply with the most recent European legislation.”
(Published in GLOBAL RECYCLING Magazine 3/2024, Page 6, Photo: Cirplus)
