LAHORE, July 13: Green Earth Recycling is probably the only industry of its kind and size in the country that recycles used tetrapaks to produce chipboard as well as converts discarded shopper bags into plastic wood to take care of the increasing problem of solid waste in the urban areas and depleting forests resources of the country.

Chipboard produced by the GER is marketed as green board while plastic wood as green plastic lumber because of their having been recycled from plastic and tetrapak waste.

Both the recycled products are environment and health-friendly and can be used to manufacture a wide range of products, says GER chief executive Zafar Bhatti. He says he had spent something like Rs40 million to establish the project that is the only unit which recycles plastic shopper bags and tetrapaks in the country.

The unit has a capacity of recycling one million kilograms of shopper bags per month. However, Bhatti says, it is recycling only 20,000 to 25,000 kg of used shopper bags per month because of “low demand of the products made from green plastic lumber.”

Similarly, he says, the unit recycling tetrapak waste is recycling only 1,000 kg per day compared to the installed capacity of 3,000 kg per day for manufacturing green boards.

“Our production is far below our installed capacity because of lack of public awareness about our product,” Bhatti says. “Should we succeed in creating local market for our range of products and exporting them, we’d be able to increase our production.”

The green plastic lumber can be used to manufacture a range of products from dustbins to school furniture to park benches to bus stops to flooring and roofing. Similarly, the green boards can be used for making furniture and in the construction industry. It is a safer alternative to conventional hard board because it carries no toxic material.

“It is not only cheaper than wood but is also long lasting and does not require maintenance. It also takes care of environmental degradation and pressure on our depleting forests,” Bhatti says.

He says his company is making efforts to educate people to use water-resistant, all-weather green board and green plastic lumber as a “replacement of wood and explore such foreign markets as the US and Canada for exporting it.” However, he says, the government departments and institutions need to “facilitate marketing of his products. There’s a big potential for marketing of our products around the country. But the official patronage to popularize them is also required.”

He says he was “immensely disappointed” by the attitude of the officials who had discouraged him from producing pipes that could be used as irrigation (water) channels even though those cost far less than the lining of the channels.