BIR World Recycling Convention (Round-Table Sessions) in New Delhi (14 - 16 October 2017)

Plastics Committee:

China is changing: Opportunities in India Guest speakers from Reliance Industries and most promising recycling start-up of India (Banyan Nation) to take the floor at plenary meeting 

At the plenary meeting of the BIR Plastics Committee on Monday, 16 October 2017 at 09.30 chaired by Mr Surendra Borad Patawari at the Taj Diplomatic Enclave Hotel, New Delhi, attendees of the Round-Table will have the opportunity to listen to representatives from two iconic Indian companies: Reliance Industries Ltd and Banyan Nation.

•    The first guest speaker, Mr Rajesh Gauba, is Vice-President for PET recycling and product sustainability at Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s most profitable and largest publicly traded company. Reliance Industries, a conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mumbai, combines petrochemical, refining, oil and gas-related operations as their core business with other divisions including cloth, retail business, telecommunications and special economic zone (SEZ) development.

Mr Gauba has been with Reliance for more than 20 years and before his current assignment was leading business transformation for petrochemicals. He will be speaking on “PET Recycling: Sustainability 'Sweet-Spot’”.

•    The second guest speaker is Mr Mani Vajipey, co-founder and CEO of Banyan Nation, an informal sector-inclusive high-technology social venture which aims to solve the problems in the Indian recycling value chain through technology innovations that encourage source segregation and maximize landfill diversion. Banyan Nation has changed the way India looks at plastics, recycling and waste management. Its mission is to produce cleaner, safer and cheaper plastic that compels brands to use more recycled than virgin plastic for their product and packaging needs.

Before founding Banyan Nation, Mr Vajipey was working at Qualcomm Inc. in California on the design, development, testing and commercialisation activities of mobile technologies for the Apple iPad and iPhone product lines.

Mr Vajipey holds dual MBAs from the UC Berkeley (Haas) and Columbia Business Schools, an MS Electrical Engineering Degree from the University of Delaware and a BTech Electrical Engineering Degree from NIT, Warangal.

He will deliver a guest presentation entitled "Challenges and opportunities in the plastics recycling business in India".