September 2015 Issue Business View Caribbean

Business View Caribbean - September 2015 59 ing industry. When that effort proved unsuccessful, he started his own operation. He knew something about plastic bottle manufacturing because of his previous job with a chlorine manufacturing company that used plastic bottles as packaging for its bleach. “The mas- ter plan,” he says, “was to become the best in the field, to produce quality products in a cost-effective manner, and at the same time, learn more about the plastics in- dustry to be able to get involved in plastics recycling.” And that is the gist of Quesnel’s dilemma. At the same time that Resin Converters is providing technological- ly-advanced plastic packaging solutions, and is one of the largest plastic container manufacturers of blow molded HDPE (high-density polyethylene) products on the island, its owner’s “hidden agenda” is trying to figure out how to address the reduction of high pro- portions of virgin resin in new bottle production, while increasing the use of recycled waste material. The conundrum is daunting. Quesnel explains: “Recy- cling, bottle to bottle (B2B) is very, very costly – and it cannot replace 100 percent of the bottles that are made. You can only use a certain percentage of recy- cled material. Even if someone became a perfect recy- AT A GLANCE WHO: Resin Converters Limited WHAT: Manufacturer of plastic packaging prod- ucts for the chemical, food, personal care, and pharmaceutical industries. WHERE: Caroni, Trinidad WEBSITE : www.resinconverterstt.com