Plastic Parks in India – Accelerating Growth of the Polymer-Based Industrial Ecosystem

15 April 2025: The Department of Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals is implementing the Scheme for Setting up of Plastic Parks under the umbrella scheme of New Scheme of Petrochemicals, to support setting up need-based Plastic Parks, with requisite state-of-the-art infrastructure, enabling common facilities through cluster development approach, to consolidate the capacities of the domestic downstream plastic processing industry. Under the scheme, the government of India provides grant funding up to 50% of the project cost subject to a ceiling of Rs.40 crore per project.

Plastic Parks have emerged as an integral part of India’s strategy for managing plastic waste, promoting recycling, and supporting the chemical industry. 10 Plastic Parks have been approved so far in different States. Plastic Park Location: Tamot (Madhya Pradesh), Jagatsinghpur (Odisha), Tinsukia (Assam), Bilaua (Madhya Pradesh), Deoghar (Jharkhand), Tiruvallur (Tamilnadu), Sitarganj (Uttarakhand), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Ganjimutt (Karnataka) and Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh).

India stands 12th in the world export of plastics, as per 2022 World Bank estimates. It has grown exponentially from 2014, when it was worth just 8.2 million thousand USD, as compared to the 2022 estimates, where it reached 27 million thousand USD. This growth has been a result of the constant efforts by the Indian government to promote the production and export of plastics, like setting up Plastic Parks.

The other initiatives taken by the Government to enhance plastics processing are:

– Centres of Excellence (CoE): To promote the research and development in polymer and plastics the department has established 13 Centres of Excellence in various national level institutes.
– National Chemical Laboratory, Pune: Sustainable Polymer Industry to Research & Innovation
– Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Chennai: Green Transport Network (GREET)
– CIPET, Bhubaneswar: Sustainable Green Materials
– Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi: Advanced Polymeric Materials
– IIT, Guwahati: Sustainable Polymers (Sus-Pol)
– IIT, Roorkee: Process Development, Wastewater Management in Petrochemical Industries
– CIPET, Bhubaneswar: Bio-engineered Sustainable Polymeric Systems
– National Chemical Laboratory, Pune: Specialty Polymers for Customized Applications
– CSIR – North East Institute of Science & Technology (CSIR-NEIST): Polymers, Their Composites and Polymeric Membranes for Sustainable Development of Petroleum Industries
– CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad: Polymer Coatings for Decorative, Protective and Strategic Applications
– CIPET, Bhubaneswar: Manufacturing of Next Generation Bio-Medical Devices
– IIT, Guwahati: Sustainable & Innovative Design and Manufacturing of Polymer-based Products
– IRMRA, Thane: Design and Development for Value added Toys of Rubber and Allied Finished Products

These CoEs focus on various aspects such as sustainable polymers, advanced polymeric materials, bio-engineered systems and process development for wastewater management in petrochemical industries. They aim to drive innovation, improve technology, and promote environmentally sustainable development within the sector.