Challenge
The volume of plastic waste generated in India doubled between 2016 and 2020 to approximately 3.5 million metric tons per year. Although India has a fairly high rate of recycling, most of the recycled material is processed through fragmented informal networks, which actually "down-cycle" plastic waste into products that cannot be further recycled, causing the plastic to reach the end of its useful life. At the same time, new regulations in India require that consumer brands use at least 30 percent of recycled plastic content in their packaging starting in 2025. As a result, businesses are challenged to source materials to meet a rapidly growing demand for safe, high-quality recycled plastic.
Solution & Impact
DFC financing will enable Banyan Nation, an award-winning, vertically integrated plastics recycling company based in India, to expand and upgrade its facilities to more than triple production of circular plastic resins that can be used by a variety of industries, from car manufacturers to consumer goods, to replace the use of virgin plastics.
Banyan, which sources post-consumer plastic waste through India’s informal network of recyclers, plans to use the financing to build a second recycling facility and upgrade its supply chain mapping and tracking software. The DFC financing will enable it to more than triple its recycling capacity from 15,000 to 51,000 tons per year.
Banyan has de-risked its supply chain by digitally mapping thousands of informal recyclers and aggregators from which it sources raw materials. Banyan’s proprietary software platform identifies and traces the source and origin of recycled plastics.
In addition to supporting increased production and use of recycled plastics, the DFC financing is expected to create 865 permanent jobs, as well as 200 temporary jobs during plant construction, and to support additional livelihoods by building and training a network of plastic collectors and sorters.