About Ecare Products
Indian Pollution Control Association (IPCA) is a not-for-profit organization conceived in 2001 by a group of environmentally conscious individuals who firmly believed at promoting environmentally sustainable practices at individual, community, institutional and industrial level. IPCA is registered under the Society Registration Act, XXI of 1860 and also registered under 80G and 12A act of Income Tax. IPCA is an ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 & ISO 45001:2018 certified organization and pioneer in preparing and executing EPR Action Plan for Plastic Waste Management (PWM).
In the beginning of year 2021, Indian Pollution Control Association and SBI Cards and Payment Services Limited collaborated to conceive the idea for developing infrastructure that will support circular supply chain and sustainably solve the plastic crisis of the country. The result of the collaboration was flagship a project named as ‘Innovative Mechanism for Management of Plastic Waste’. Under this project, the focus is laid on developing the crucial infrastructure for plastic waste management. Till now, four material recovery facilities (MRF) and one plastic recycling facility have been developed in Delhi NCR under this flagship project. Out of four MRFs, three are in East Delhi (2 TPD each) and one is in Greater Noida (10 TPD). The plastic recycling facility is also situated in Greater Noida and has the capacity to recycle 10,800 MT of plastic waste annually.
The recycling facility receives baled & compacted plastic waste (Multi-layered Plastic, LDPE and PP) from the material recovery facilities which is then shredded into smaller particles. The shredded particles are processed through Hot and Cold Press to make plastic boards of various thickness (6 mm to 24 mm) but uniform width and length (i.e. 8 feet x 4 feet), depending upon the requirement. These plastic waste recycled sheets are registered under the brand name 'Ecare'. These Ecare boards are being utilized in multiple applications like construction, developing playing equipment, school stationary products, gifting items, pallets in FMCG segment, planters, home decor items, office desk stationary, tree guards, dustbins, photo frames and many more. The quality & range of these products have been improved with more intensive R&D.
Ecare boards are tested at NABL accredited laboratory for their strengths and possesses following characteristics:
- Water Absorption: 0.19 %
- Tensile breaking load: 20.61 N/mm2
- Screw holding capacity: 139 kg
- Nail Holding capacity: 13.5 kg
- Hardness: 96 Shore A
- Flexural Strength: 24.65 N/mm2
This flagship project of SBI Cards and Payment Services Limited & Indian Pollution Control Association has been able to develop a model that ensures sustainable supply chain management of plastic waste with inclusion of maximum stakeholders in the process. The summary of the steps involved in the supply chain is given below:
- Collection of plastic waste from source and storage at MRF: Plastic waste collected at MRF is brought from various waste generation points by trained waste collectors/ waste workers, MCD tippers, scrap dealers and as well as from IPCA’s own plastic waste collection initiatives.
- Segregation and baling of Waste: Plastic waste brought to MRF is segregated into categories of plastic like LDPE, HDPE, PP, PET, MLP, PVC, and PS using a conveyer belt. Given that all plastic waste is light weight and takes up lot of space, it needs to be compacted in the form of bale with the help of hydraulic baler, hence baler is used to compact the plastic waste.
- Transportation and shredding of baled plastic: The baled plastic sheets are transported from MRF to the recycling facility where it is shredded into 10 mm particles.
- Recycling of Plastic Waste: The shredded particles are processed through Hot & Cold Press to make plastic boards (registered under the brand name “Ecare”) of various thickness but uniform width & length (8 feet x 4 feet) depending upon the market requirement. This plastic board is then utilized in multiple applications like construction, automobile, furniture and as pallets in FMCG segment by buyers.