Huhtamaki is donating €600,000 to fund a project that aims to stop the flow of plastic into the Indian Ocean from the Mithi River in Mumbai, India.
Manoej Paateel / Shutterstock.com
Huhtamaki helps clean plastics from the Mithi River in India
Mumbai, India
The project is one of three initiatives that Huhtamaki has funded as part of its 100-year anniversary to address global sustainability challenges and build and learn from circular economy initiatives.
The Mithi River project is run by a global partnership between the United Nations Technology Innovation Labs UNTIL, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, RiverRecycle and Earth5R – an India-based citizen-led environmental movement organising local workshops with key stakeholders on effective waste management and recycling.
RiverRecycle, a Finnish cleantech start-up, provides the technology to collect the plastic and floating debris from the river.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland will collect and analyse data on the floating waste and its seasonal variations in order to optimize the river’s clean-up operations and recycling process development.
The United Nations Technology Innovation Labs UNTIL manages the project.
Professor Joseph Adelegan, Circular Economy Lead for the United Nations Technology Innovation Labs, said: “The partnership organisations are delighted to be working with the Huhtamaki team and look forward to delivering this ground-breaking initiative over the coming 18 months. The collected data will also support future circular economy studies and can serve as a starting point for possible future clean-up actions with optimal resource use.”
Charles Héaulmé, President and CEO of Huhtamaki, added: “Huhtamaki is committed to protecting people, food and the planet. We are happy to support local initiatives together with partners across the value chain, learning from those experiences, and developing the systemic changes towards circularity and a sustainable future globally.”