Viridis expands to North, East

Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI

One of leading plastic recycling companies in Sri Lanka, Viridis Pvt Ltd will expand its collection network to North and East to collect all waste plastics for recycle in the near future, bringing more foreign exchange to the country. Viridis General Manager Buddhika Muthukumarana told the Daily News Business.

Viridis a BOI company situated at Homagama BOI zone recycles PET bottles into PET flake form for the International market where there is a huge demand. At present the company's annual sales turnover stands between USD 0.7 million to 1.2 million.

The plant has the capacity to recycle 350 tons of plastics per month but only 110 mt are recycled due to shortage of waste collection. It exports 95 percent of total production and the balance is sold to local manufacturers who produced various items such as toys, electrical items, basins, vehicle parts and shoes.

This sales volume could be increased three fold if the factory could get sufficient waste to run at full capacity, Muthukumarana said.

He said the company is now seriously looking for extra quantities of PET bottles in wash and unwashed form for recycling by expanding the collection network. Presently there are about 100 collection centres in the country extending to Anuradhapura.

Once it is expanded to the North and East collectors could sell them to Viridis at the best current market prices.

There are some individual collectors who earns between Rs 2,000 to 4,000 daily by collecting plastic waste, he said.

Muthukumarana said collecting plastics waste is a money spinner although people in Sri Lanka have not realized it yet.

The world is compelled to use plastics for various packaging due to its cost effective and convenient nature despite environmental challenges.

The only way to face this challenge is managing the waste properly.

This will give an opportunity for people to earn an extra income for their day-to-day living while an environment is ensuring the free of plastic waste.

Viridis Chairman JMS Phillips an Englishman from Wales appreciated the support of Sri Lankan people.