Flex can be recycled using multilayer PVC recycling machine and the association has approached the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and the Mayor has assured to provide land for setting up the plant in the Corporation limit. But for setting up the plant, at least Rs 30 lakh is required to install the machines alone, apart from land and building cost, for which the association needs the help of the state government, said Chandramohan C, president of SPIA.

When the SPIA contacted Minister for Local-Self Governments K T Jaleel, he directed to contact the Suchitwa Mission. If the government provides financial assistance to the project, the issues related to the use of flex can be addressed effectively, the SPIA office-bearers said.With the multi-layer PVC recycling unit, polyester fabric and PVC film portion can be separated, according to them.

The plant requires five machines - crushing unit, separation unit, mixer unit A, mixer unit B, and extrusion unit. The crushing unit will be fed with all printed or non printed flex sheets. Metal parts have to be removed before feeding it to the machine. Sheets can be of any thickness, starting from 180 gm. The output of this process will be stored in a large bag connected with the unit. It is then used as input for the separating unit.

The PVC granules made from the process are grade II, they said. The machine costs around R30 lakh and the plant requires an area of 3,000 sq ft and a power capacity of 150 HP, as told. The separating unit will segregate the input as PVC film and polyester fibre. All the PVC film output will be mixed in mixer A and then mixer B to produce PVC paste using adequate chemicals. The paste is further processed in the extrusion machine.

The polyester fabric parts are re-used for making polyester yarn and PVC film becomes granules through extrusion. The granules are then used for producing PVC pipes, sandal soles and other plastic products.

The Sign Printing Industries Association (SPIA) has approached the state government with a proposal to set up a flex recycling unit in Thiruvananthapuram.

In India, there are more than 45 installed multi-layer PVC recycling machines. The SPIA has studied how flex can be recycled using the machine by visiting several units in Narela Industrial Estate, New Delhi, they said.