TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Governor Bharat Vir Wanchoo inaugurated Asian workshop on Polymer processing at Dona Paula.
Addressing the participants of from India and abroad the Governor said this prestigious workshop will not only provide a platform to enhance the latest knowledge in the area of polymer processing, but would also lead to establishing new scientific and business collaborations in this area for the betterment of the society and in turn humanity.
The Governor said polymers are part of our everyday life and without them around this world of ours would be very very different, if not impossible to live in. Most common and ordinary people do not even bother to think what a polymer is or just how widespread they are around us. In view of their broad range of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play an essential and ubiquitous role in our every day life.
The Governor said, the volume of synthetic polymers that are produced now-a-days world-wide is greater than the volume of steel produced. It is also established that polymer consumptions of developed and developing countries increase roughly in proportion to their gross national product.
Stating that polymer-based industry is today one of the fastest growing sectors, the Governor said India’s polymer consumption has tripled in every decade since the 1970s and the consumption of polymers in different applications is expected to reach 15 millions tonnes by 2014.
The Governor urged polymer professionals to simultaneously address the environmental concerns over the use of polymers. As we move towards greater volumes of polymer production, we need to simultaneously look at the sustainability aspects, particularly of the polymer products that the members of the civilized society dispose so indiscriminately. We need to come out with special techniques to make polymers that would address both the needs of mankind as well as deal with sustainability issues. He said there should be more usage of green polymers and biodegradable polymers.
Prof Masaya Kotaki, Kyoto Institute of Technology and Chair of the Asian Workshop on Polymer Processing, Subhash Kadakia, President, Plastindia Foundation, Avinash Joshi, Joint Secretary, Petrochemicals, GoI, Prof Satish Shetye, Vice Chancellor, Goa University, Prof Ashok Misra, Chairman Polymer Processing Academy and Prof Anup Ghosh, Organizing Chair, were present.
