Pune: As the summer heat is getting hotter and hotter day-by day, the need to wear sun-glasses has become mandatory. But then it is difficult to select the right option among the scores of sun-glasses from several brands available in the market.
Pocket-friendly, environment-friendly option
However, here’s a local brand which will not only be pocket-friendly, but also is environment friendly. Entrepreneur Anish Malpani recycled the plastic to create sun-glasses. Surprised! Yes, Anish has been successful in creating the world’s first sun-glasses which are UV rays protected, trendy, available in several sizes and shapes from chip plastic.
And mind you these sun-glasses are made from plastic which generally cannot be recycled. Well, let's read how Anish went about it.
“Chip packets are made of multi-layered plastic (MLP) which is difficult to recycle because it is hard to collect; the layers are difficult to separate, and the cost of treating the separated material is high. Globally, an unnoticeable amount - near 0% - of flexible packaging is recycled”, informed Anish while speaking to Free Press Journal.
He added, “This is because flexible packaging results in a low-value, high volume, composite waste – up to 5-6 different types of materials - that is considered economically and technically impossible to recycle. Anish is founder and CEO of Ashaya start-up.
A move towards realising a circular economy
“It is the most challenging waste segment to address towards realising a circular economy for plastics which is why it mostly ends up in landfills and accounts for a disproportionate share of leakage into the ocean worldwide becoming a cause of severe environmental toxicity,” he said.
“Flexible packaging is almost uniformly single-use. Due to its low weight, low cost and high functionality, plastic flexible packaging is used for everything from fresh fruit, to meat, to dry food, to confectionary, to drinks, to personal care products, to stationery items, to tools, to electronics - making it the fastest growing plastic packaging category”, he explained
“We have been working on it for the last two years experimenting in a lab in Bhosari, Pune and have found a way to not only recycle this flexible packaging but reinvigorate it. They chemically extract materials from this waste using their patent-pending technology and convert them into high quality products, the first being a pair of sunglasses that are each made of five packets of chips. “The material properties we have managed to get in our lab are close to virgin-like and its applications are boundless,” explains Anish.
50%-80% of waste in India is untreated
He said, “50%-80% of waste in India is untreated (~50 million tons), and half of all waste generated is dumped in landfills. Estimates say that waste has the potential to be a multi-billion dollar industry in India by 2025”.
Anish who’s the native of Aurangabad (now Sambhajinagar) went to US for his career, but came back with the entrepreneurial dream. When asked why he choose Pune to start his patented product, he said, “Mumbai was my first choice, but the city is expensive in terms of getting a house. Then, I thought of my home-town, but Pune is well connected, affordable and has various science institutes. So I selected this city”.
Secondly, the city has a good network of waste pickers. UNDP estimates that India generates 65 million tonnes of waste each year and is home to more than 4 million waste pickers who are marginalized and at the very bottom of the socio-economic chain with no formal economy to integrate them.
He said, “10% of Ashaya sales will go towards keeping the children of waste-pickers in school. We have tied-up with Swach in the city. Ashaya was launched in 2020 and its first product is a pair of sunglasses made from chip packets. The start-up has nine employees, including two waste pickers, and their own laboratory.We want to scale up the production, but currently we have limited resources and funds.”
What do the ophthalmologists say?
Dr Aishwarya Mule who also runs a blind support group in the city said, “as far as lenses are concerned if they are of good quality, then the frame of the sunglasses (whether made up of recycled plastic or any other material) shouldn’t be a problem. It is a very welcoming concept.
Dr Rupali Nerlekar too opined the same. She said, “if the lenses are UV polarised and cause no skin irritation, then it is pretty much safe to use these sunglasses. Earlier also there were frames made up of woods, now we have acrylic and other material used for the frames. If vision remains unaffected, then it is safe to use.”
