Patawari: Plastic recycling goes beyond environmental concerns

GemCorp Recycling, a subsidiary of Belgium-based Gemini Corporation, has been awarded the Best Practice 2024 award for setting up plastic recycling hubs in India.

Regarded as the Nobel Prize of sustainable packaging, the award was presented in front of more than 700 industry leaders attending the Sustainable Packaging Summit in Amsterdam.

The award reflects GemCorp’s work in India, where the company has set up waste collection and recycling centres to boost recycling and support waste pickers. Speaking of the award, Gemini’s chairman Surendra Patawari said plastics recycling ‘goes beyond environmental concerns’. He called it a ‘social issue’ that required sustainable solutions rooted in community support.

Commitment

‘With this award, our commitment to social impact in developing countries gains even more significance, honouring the work of our team, partners and waste pickers,’ he stressed. The initiative reaffirms Gemini’s mission to create impactful social change while reducing environmental waste, according to Patawari.

Global waste crisis

Established in 2019, GemCorp Recycling not only promotes social equity but also aims to tackle the pressing waste crisis in countries like India where poorly managed municipal solid waste has reached critical levels. Gemini’s impact extends beyond India as the company currently recycles over two million tonnes of waste annually across 500 locations worldwide.