UltraTech develops eco-friendly recycled polymer bags for cement packing

The new cement bags, made of 50 per cent recycled polypropylene, augment UltraTech’s ongoing contribution towards circular economy

July 3, 2023 : UltraTech Cement Limited, India’s largest cement and ready-mix concrete company, has further strengthened its contribution towards circular economy by developing cement packaging bags using recycled polypropylene (rPP).

The new cement bags are made with 50 per cent of rPP. Overall, the use of rPP has helped to reduce the use of virgin plastic by 43 per cent. This helps the cement bags to be more environment friendly by reducing the burden of plastic on landfill or the need for incineration.

The bags were developed after extensive trials to ensure that they met stringent performance parameters as well as were in line with UltraTech brand specifications. The use of rPP in manufacturing cement bags has helped to achieve a reduction of 28.12 gm of virgin plastic per bag. With a target to source three crore recycled polypropylene bags in FY24, UltraTech aims to reduce the use of virgin polypropylene by over 840 metric tons (MT).

This initiative by UltraTech builds on the Company’s longstanding efforts to reduce the environmental burden of plastic waste, industrial waste, and municipal waste by using them in cement manufacturing operations. This helps to ensure safe disposal of waste and drive the circular economy. In FY2023 alone, UltraTech has used more than 28 million tonnes of recycled material for making cement. UltraTech is currently 2.48 times Plastic Positive.