Please share some background on yourself and your company

My father, along with our former business partners, founded Norwich Plastics in 1987, originally called Norwich Recycling. I have been working in the business since I was 12 years old, starting right after receiving my Social Insurance card in seventh grade.

Norwich Plastics specializes in the reclaiming, recycling, and reprocessing of flexible, semi-rigid, and rigid PVC from various industries and applications. We handle both pre and post-consumer end-of-life and end-of-use vinyl materials. With three operations in Tennessee and two in Ontario, we provide a range of reclaiming and reprocessing solutions, along with customized recycled content for pre- and post-consumer materials.

What current projects at Norwich Plastics are you most excited to be working on?

We are very excited to be working with the Vinyl Institute of Canada, the Vinyl Institute, government, medical, and other industry partners to grow Vinyl medical device reclaim and recycling in North America.  

Over the past few years, we have completed lots of work in the post-consumer field, each with their own challenges and opportunity. Helping to close the loop by being a part of the end-of-life/ end-of-use solution for so many vinyl products is both validating and rewarding given the plastics industry’s commitment to sustainability and desire for recycled content.

How is Canada leading the way within sustainability from your experience?

Canada has a unique position on the global stage being a small country in terms of population, yet advanced in terms of standard of living and infrastructure, and quite formidable in terms of land mass and natural resources.

Upon this canvas our leaders from Industry, Academia, Government, and the Public; work to craft policy and regulations that protect both our sensitive ecology and growing economy. Sometimes we as a country get it right and sometimes, we do not. The point is that we are a small country and at all levels, we continue to try new approaches to minimize or manage waste and promote sustainable development.

What are you most looking forward to from the expo? 

For me it is technology and new product development. Every few weeks plastics industry players from across the value chain are launching new products, services, or technology and gathering the right information via emails, webinars and newsletters can be difficult. The AMI Plastics World Expos has proven to help overcome that difficulty by being a regularly held time efficient event, that allows for networking, education, sourcing, development, and research all in one place over a few days.

Tribu Persaud will be speaking on Day 1 at the Compounding World Expo Theater.