Pack.Nxt panelists uncovers practical applications of circular economy

Rakesh Gera, the moderator, framed the moment as "an insecure period in their respective ecosystems". Gera introduced the trio of men tasked with translating the lofty concept of "driving to circularity" into something a supply chain manager could actually budget.

The panel comprised three distinct eras of Indian industry. The most senior panellist, Tushar Bandopadhyay, the technical director at the Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment, is a figure of almost five decades of experience, whose presence seemed to embody the history of plastic, from "raw materials to finished goods—cradle to cradle," as the moderator put it. Bandopadhyay, a pioneer in the esoteric arts of co-processing plastic waste in cement kilns and the chemical recycling of stubborn laminates, offered a gentle, historical corrective: "In India, the circularity started long back… in the 1960s." For him, modern sustainability was merely a formalised, technological expression of what limited resources and "livelihood" had already compelled the country to do—to "reduce" and "extend the use". The world, he suggested, would arrive at this point either by choice or "through rules and regulations".

Ankit Jain of Ribotl whose legacy in the field was the creation of a dedicated PET recycling segment. Jain spoke about the vision of a "pollution-free PET-driven business." He said, "Sustainability has many dimensions, but the reality on the shopfloor has many challenges."

Subhrajit Bhowmik of Cipla Health, a seasoned packaging professional who included a stint at a company which, a footnote revealed, once packaged beer in PET bottles in India. Bhowmik was the voice of the balance sheet. He said, "We can't work on recyclable materials, which will offer sustainability, but at high costs."

The conversation pivoted from philosophy to execution when Gera posed the question of practical "design interventions." Bhowmiuk highlighted the fractional gains that define modern manufacturing—the reduction of film waste from a "250 microns" thickness to a "200 microns," a straight "20% reduction of the total waste." He detailed the delicate calculus of balancing environmental goals with product protection, noting the struggle to introduce monomaterials where barrier properties are non-negotiable.

The true innovation, however, lay in his company’s subtle act of chemical alchemy. The team developed an "IV enhancer" to revitalise second-use polymer, taking recycled PET (where the intrinsic viscosity, or IV, had been "punctured enough") and restoring it to a level fit for primary packaging. The delegates in the room were delighted with the knowledge-sharing, especially a moment of technicality that perfectly encapsulated the panel’s theme: circularity is less about grand gestures and more about the painstaking 30% improvement in a polymer’s viscosity, driven by a company's intellectual property.

As the panel moved toward a question-and-answer period, the necessity of collaboration, particularly between industry and academia. Jain lamented the struggles over "debt fines," where real-world problems often outpaced theoretical solutions. He recalled sharing a new "incentive for safety" with a university partner, only to find they were "not aware that this can be done." The solution, he suggested, was not for industry to ask for help with the theoretical, but for academia to help solve "real-world problem," the gritty, often-overlooked details that turn an economic theory into a profitable reality.

The message from the panel discussion at the Pack.Nxt summit was that there was not "a single, universal blueprint for the circular economy". The 45-minutes provided a glimpse into the complex, often contradictory efforts that the industry is pursuing.