Revolutionary technology transforms multi-layered plastic waste into eyewear, tiles, and everyday items while empowering waste workers
October 2025 — While most of us toss empty chips packets into the bin without a second thought, a Pune startup is turning this “unrecyclable” nightmare into stylish sunglasses, durable tiles, and high-quality products that are reshaping India’s war against plastic pollution.
WITHOUT, founded by former Silicon Valley finance professional Anish Malpani in 2020, has cracked the code on recycling multi-layered plastic—the notoriously difficult-to-process waste that makes up everything from chips packets to chocolate wrappers and shampoo sachets. This is the plastic that environmentalists have long called impossible to recycle.
India’s Hidden Plastic Crisis
India generates a staggering 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, accounting for nearly twenty percent of the global total. But here’s the shocking truth: less than one percent of multi-layered plastic gets recycled. The rest? Dumped in landfills, burned in open fires, or swept into our oceans.
Multi-layered plastic, or MLP, consists of three to five layers made of polyolefins, PET, cellulose, and aluminum fused together. This complex structure gives products longer shelf life but makes them virtually impossible to break down through conventional recycling methods. Until now.
The Technology Behind the Magic
The Pune startup recycles unrecyclable plastic using a proprietary technology called Verdicycle. This breakthrough process delaminates, demetallizes, decolorizes, and dissolves the various layers of MLP through a sophisticated chemical reactor system.
Unlike traditional methods, WITHOUT’s water-based process doesn’t use harmful organic solvents. The separated materials are then transformed into high-quality pellets that become the raw material for manufacturing everything from trendy eyewear to industrial-grade tiles.
The demonstration plant, inaugurated this month in Pune, can process up to five tonnes of complex post-consumer waste monthly, including multi-layered plastics and soiled textiles. The byproducts are converted into premium tiles at just 120 degrees Celsius under atmospheric pressure—a remarkably efficient and cost-effective approach.
From Wall Street to Waste Management
Malpani’s journey reads like a modern sustainability fairy tale. After building a successful career as a finance director for a major US media company, he chose to return to India with a singular mission: tackle the twin problems of plastic pollution and poverty among waste workers.
He invested two hundred thousand dollars of his own money, set up a research lab in Pune, and spent six months volunteering with waste management organizations to understand the ground reality. The result? A company that’s already secured one patent and filed for two more.
Social Impact Meets Innovation
What sets this Pune startup apart isn’t just the technology—it’s the inclusive business model. WITHOUT partners with SWaCH, a Pune-based solid waste management organization, to source informal waste workers for its plants. These workers receive two to three times higher salaries than traditional waste-picking offers, along with health benefits and formal employment.
Currently operating with a team of forty employees, the startup is already catching the attention of major players. The company recently closed a 1.9 million dollar seed funding round led by UK-based Rewilding Wealth, with participation from Spectrum Impact and Bollywood actress Dia Mirza, who champions sustainable innovation.
Products That Tell a Story
WITHOUT’s current product line includes fashionable eyewear, buttons, bottles, signage, and decorative tiles. Each pair of sunglasses is crafted from approximately five recycled chips packets and weighs just twenty-six grams. They’re UV-polarized, durable, bendable, and come in contemporary unisex designs.
The sunglasses range from one thousand rupees for basic models to two thousand five hundred rupees for polarized versions—affordable luxury with a conscience.
Scaling the Solution
While the startup currently resembles a direct-to-consumer brand, the long-term vision is far more ambitious. Malpani plans to establish a full-scale commercial plant next year, dramatically increasing processing capacity to serve small and medium businesses across India.
The goal isn’t just recycling—it’s creating a circular economy where today’s trash becomes tomorrow’s treasure. By 2030, WITHOUT aims to bring ten thousand to fifteen thousand waste pickers out of poverty through formal employment.
The Bigger Picture
As India grapples with being the world’s largest plastic polluter, solutions like this Pune startup’s technology offer genuine hope. The company isn’t just making products; it’s proving that environmental sustainability and social inclusion can go hand in hand with profitable business models.
From chips packets scattered on streets to premium products adorning modern homes, WITHOUT is showing us that “unrecyclable” is just a challenge waiting for the right technology and the right vision.
The future of plastic waste might just be sitting in a Pune laboratory—and it looks surprisingly stylish.
