Speaker Interview: Tribu Persaud, Norwich Plastics
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 by Karla Stock

Next up on our exhibitor interview series, we catch up with Tribu Persaud, Director of Business Development at Norwich Plastics. 

In addition to being a partner in Norwich Plastics, Tribu serves as Director of Business Development. His key areas of focus are circular economy, sustainability and helping manufactures deal with end-of-life management and the recycling of plastics, with a strong concentration on PVC. Tribu's main responsibilities are to divert as much material from landfill as possible and turn reclaimed materials into reusable quality compounds or composites.

 

What are the biggest challenges facing the market today, and how can this be overcome?

The greatest hurdle to overcome for a plastics recycler/manufacturer/brand owner is the end-of-life management of plastic manufactured products; coupled with the moral, social, and regulatory challenges that accompany. Design for recyclability as well as improving collection, sortation and handling of reclaimed plastics are paramount factors that contribute directly to the success of any post-consumer or post-industrial plastics reclamation, collection, and recycling process. 

 

In your opinion, what do you consider to be the greatest development in your industry in the last decade?

The term advanced recycling covers a lot of ground these days, however the various pyrolyses, dissolution, plasma gasification, waste to energy and chemical recycling methods show tremendous promise, especially when married to mechanical recycling advancements such as optical sorting, NIR, XRF and other automated and semi-automated separation and sorting technologies. 

 

How do you see the sector developing in the next five to ten years?

Design for recyclability will most likely be the first change we will see in the coming years. Existing and new plastics product designers and manufacturers will need to determine the correct polymer required for their most critical application for their part/product; and design the entire product/device with compatible (or compatibilizable) materials for ease of reclaim and recycling at end of life. As markets and values develop for end-of-life plastic materials, so shall collection, handling and recycling infrastructure grow to meet the need for quality consistent recycled feedstock.

 

You will be speaking at the AMI Plastics World Expos in North America, could you give us a preview on what you will be talking about?

I look forward to being part of a Plastics recycling panel, where we will explore the trends, issues, regulations, and opportunities that mechanical and advanced plastics recycling present to our industry, in terms of manufacturing with recycled content, consumer behavior, and market viability. Having been in the plastics industry for over 35 years, I am continually inspired by the over all plastics industry’s dynamic approaches to solving the most complex of ecological and environmental issues.

 

 

Tribu Persaud will be speaking at the AMI Plastics World Expos in North America.