# 96 - Plastic recycling with the incredible Chandru Wadhwani from Extrupet

- Show: [People of Packaging](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging)
- Published: 2022-01-04
- Length: 38m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2022-01-04-96-plastic-recycling-with-the-incredible-chandru-wadhwani-from-extrupet
- Listen: https://encase.substack.com/p/96-plastic-recycling-with-the-incredible-a20

## Summary

Chandru Wadhwani, Joint Managing Director of Extrupet, explains the complexities of PET recycling in Africa, detailing how the company collects bottles from South Africa and imports flakes from East Africa and Mauritius. He discusses the critical impact of bottle color and label adhesives on recyclability, noting that Coca-Cola and Pepsi are shifting to clear bottles to meet food-grade rPET demand. Wadhwani highlights the role of NIR sorting technology and innovations like Avery Dennison's Clear Flake in improving flake purity for bottle-to-bottle recycling.

## Chapters

- [0:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2022-01-04-96-plastic-recycling-with-the-incredible-chandru-wadhwani-from-extrupet#t=10) Introduction and Extrupet's Background
- [10:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2022-01-04-96-plastic-recycling-with-the-incredible-chandru-wadhwani-from-extrupet#t=621) Extrupet's Collection Network and Import Strategy
- [14:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2022-01-04-96-plastic-recycling-with-the-incredible-chandru-wadhwani-from-extrupet#t=848) The PET Recycling Process: Granulation and NIR Sorting
- [18:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2022-01-04-96-plastic-recycling-with-the-incredible-chandru-wadhwani-from-extrupet#t=1133) Impact of Bottle Color on Recyclability
- [27:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2022-01-04-96-plastic-recycling-with-the-incredible-chandru-wadhwani-from-extrupet#t=1641) Label Adhesives and Clear Flake Technology
- [32:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2022-01-04-96-plastic-recycling-with-the-incredible-chandru-wadhwani-from-extrupet#t=1966) Brand Owner Accountability and Design Guidelines

## Topics

- [Sustainability & circular products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sustainability-and-circularity)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Packaging design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/packaging-design)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Extrupet (company)
- Coca-Cola (company)
- Pepsi (company)
- Avery Dennison (company)
- Clear Flake (product)
- UPM (company)
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation (company)
- NIR sorters (tool)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2022-01-04-96-plastic-recycling-with-the-incredible-chandru-wadhwani-from-extrupet. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to People of Packaging.