Rahul Chaudhary, CEO Ricron Panels in conversation with the Ar.Kritika Juneja, Editor Interior Exterior Magazine...
·
To begin
with, please tell us about your early brush or I could say urge to start manufacturing
responsible building materials?
We made this discovery as we were trying to do a project for a large pipe manufacturer that was producing a lot of waste plastic. We examined the waste and realized that it could be put to good use in the building material industry. We came across many different types of material in the process of taking that on. And that's when we realized that the scale of plastics we consume and the respective scraps that we generate are so diverse that there is not enough recycling infrastructure or technology to deal with them all. We found out that plastics are very good but because they don't have a primary use, their value in themselves is very low. This led to the idea that one could disrupt the building material industry by capitalizing on the low price of such materials.
Ultimately, there are no takers for this plastic scrap. Apart from that, plastics on their own have many advantages, including no water absorption. Plastic is a material that is water resistant and water absorption is a very big challenge in the whole portfolio of building materials, whether it is plywood, MDF steel or fiber cement board. With time, we developed a lot, many more products for different applications. In addition, we increased our intake of different raw materials, such as waste plastic.
·
A
deeper look into the manufacturing process of Ricron panels would be of
interest to me. Could you take me through that?
Ricron
provides building and construction industries with high performing, cost-effective
and long-lasting recycled building materials as an alternative to unsustainable
building materials such as plywood. It is a certified Green pro product by CII
for LEED rating projects.
There
are many different types of waste plastic that we produce as consumers. Each
waste plastic that we produce is unique in nature because it serves a different
purpose. As an example, if you look at packaging plastic in toothpaste tubes is
very different from the plastic used for detergent packets. In order to
identify waste plastics structurally, the first step is to categorise them and
identify which polymers are available, and what processes must be employed to
handle those plastics, working with materials of all shapes and sizes. As a
further step, we identify and convert waste plastic scrap into a very organised
raw material after we have identified that
level of contamination, we then proceed to the manufacturing process. In the market, each application determines the recipe for
the product. For example, we may be doing industrial flooring while also doing
high-end furniture for a high-end hotel or residential project.
· How are these panels made to be fire retardant, rustproof, and water-proof?Due to their innate nature, plastics are waterproof, and the disadvantage is that it takes 150 to 250 years for them to disintegrate as they don't absorb water. Working with these materials we understood the polymers and started working on their mechanical properties.
Part of the mechanical properties we are able to work with are fire retardancy, for example how fast it burns. Wooden products, for example, are organic materials, which self-combust when exposed to fire. Plastics, on the other hand, are inorganic materials, so their burning rate is slower as they are inorganic, and this is determined by the polymers they are made of. As per IS 15061-2002, Annex A, the panels are fire retardant, as well as UL rated HB as per IS 13360part 6, Section 5.
· Please tell us something about the different application of these panels? What happens to them after they are discarded?
Both interior and exterior projects are among our major applications. Due to our value-add finishing options like painting, lamination, glass pasting, and CNC routing, our drywall applications and furniture are becoming increasingly popular with architects and interior designers. Our panels are ideal for temporary structures including labor accommodation, toilets, fencing, site offices, etc. When it comes to exterior applications, we work with building sheds, prefab housing, toilets, and outdoor landscaping furniture. Ricron are also now widely been accepted in shuttering application replacing Plywood and creating sustainable impact on construction.
Ricron bricks and block pallets are the excellent alternative to conventional pallet materials such as plywood, wood, metal, and PVC. Their high strength and ability to resist water, termites, rust, and fire make them the ideal weather-proof choice for curing bricks and blocks. Since the Ricron Panels are recyclable also, we also offer our customers a buyback option after their use is done and client willing to discard as we can clean and recycle them again
