Packaging firm Huhtamaki partners RiverRecycle and VTT to tackle floating river waste in India

Huhtamaki, a global provider of sustainable packaging solutions has partnered RiverRecycle and VTT to develop technology to tackle floating river waste.

It has donated €600,000 to fund the development and piloting of a river waste collector, which was transported to and assembled in Mumbai, to collect waste from the Mithi river for the next 12 months.

"This project promotes sustainability with a holistic approach by collecting plastic waste, while also empowering local communities to gain knowledge and employment,’’ said Sudip Mall, managing director, Flexible Packaging India at Huhtamaki.


A prototype waste collector was invented by the Finnish cleantech start-up RiverRecycle and tested in Finland.

“When operating in a circular economy, cooperation among different players is fundamental to sustainability. Huhtamaki funding enabled us to complete two of the three parts of our journey of transforming plastic waste into a resource, with the positive engagement of affected communities," says Anssi Mikola, Founder of RiverRecycle.

The Mithi River project is run by a global partnership between UNTIL (now known as UN Global Pulse), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, RiverRecycle and Earth5R, an India-based citizen-led environmental movement. In addition to building, setting up and operating the river cleaner for a year, Huhtamaki’s donation has been used to organize local hands-on workshops on effective waste management and recycling with a view to drive systemic change.

In India, where Huhtamaki has 16 units and manufactures flexible packaging across food, pharmaceuticals and personal and home care products, the company already has several recyclable flexible packaging structures in the market.