In talks with Limagrain Cereales Ingredients for joint venture.
Volatile polymer prices coupled with Centre's firm stance on plastic packaging norms, has opened up new doors for bio-plastic makers like city-based Greendiamz Biotech.
The company which has set up the country's first dedicated bio-degradable polymer processing facility, is now mulling to form a joint venture as a backward integration step for producing bio-degradable polymer granules with France's Limagrain Cereales Ingredients.
Greendiamz is also all set to start trial runs of bio-degradable mulches with the state agriculture department from the coming month.
Dipack Sangghvi, director, Greendiamz claimed that if the state government allowed plastic carry-bags of 15 micron thickness, bio-degradable carry bags using compostible polymer can be manufactured at a price at par with current conventional plastic carry-bags.
What's more, buoyed by the surge in demand for bio-plastic, the company is planning to take a step further and produce the granules here in Gujarat.
At present Greendiamz sources the bio-degradable polymer granules from France's Limagrain.
It has entered into an exclusive supply agreement with Limagrain Cereales Ingredients that produces a biodegradable polymer called 'biolice'. Once disposed, Biolice products are broken down by micro-organisms and the material decomposes completely within 180 days.
Biolice is at present three times costlier compared to conventional plastic bag grade polymer, which costs around Rs 90-110 per kg. Sangghvi feels that the pricing can be made at par for 15 micron thickness bags.
"With the ban on plastic packaging of gutkha pouches, together with the recent 40 micron cap over plastic carry bags across states, the demand for bio-degradable plastic is on the rise. We are also getting queries from several downstream polymer processors and carry-bag makers to source bio-degradable granules from us," he said.
The company is, therefore, in talks with Limagrain to form a joint venture to make the granules here in India instead of sourcing it from France.
"A team from Limagrain will visit Ahmedabad next month. Final decisions regarding the size of the plant and investment are expected to be taken then. But, it would be a green-field plant to manufacture bio-degradable polymer granules that would supply to local users," Sangghvi said. Limagrain could not be reached for a comment on the same.
Greendiamz initially plans to source the corn that is used to manufacture 'biolice'. However, going forward, the company plans to start cultivating the specific grade of corn here itself.
It has already set up a biolice processing plant at Bavla which commenced commercial production in January this year. The Bavla plant has a capacity of around 5000 tonnes per annum.
Biolice granules can be processed using the same machinery that makes conventional plastic bags. On top of this, the biolice material can also be used to make rigid applications like trays, containers, plant pots etc. Hence, existing polymer processors can shift to biodegradable plastic easily.
With the ban on plastic gutkha pouches and the 40 micron thickness cap, several small scale downstream processors have already shut shop in the state which accounts for nearly 15-20 per cent of all-India polymer processing.
A Gujarat-based manufacturer of plastic bags, bottles and containers said on grounds of anonymity, "The micro and small units that were thriving on making gutkha pouches and carry bags are in a bad shape now. As a result, demand for polymer has come down sharply from such units. On top of this, the international prices of polymer are fluctuating as well. Many medium scale manufacturing units are mulling to partly start using bio-degradable plastic."
