Exclusive Interview with GemCorp CEO on Verified Recovery at Scale
In the global race to make recycling credible, scale is no longer enough, verification is the differentiator. As governments tighten EPR rules and ESG scrutiny mounts, the recycling sector is being forced to answer a new question: Can you prove it?
For Vikas Chhajer, CEO of GemCorp Recycling & Technologies Pvt Ltd, the answer is YES, and it’s logged on-chain.
Under his leadership, GemCorp has grown from a grassroots initiative supporting waste pickers into one of India’s most advanced circular economy models, combining blockchain traceability, social inclusion, and high-volume processing.
In this exclusive conversation with Plastiks, Chhajer explains why reclaimers matter, what makes multilayer plastic viable, and how blockchain and plastic credits are reshaping the economics of recovery.
Meet GemCorp: The Recycling Company Turning Traceability into Strategy
For most recyclers, traceability is a compliance box. For GemCorp Recycling & Technologies Pvt Ltd, it’s core infrastructure.
Led by Vikas Chhajer, the company has quickly become one of India’s most forward-facing players in the circular economy space, linking informal sector inclusion, blockchain verification, and high-volume material recovery into one cohesive operation.
Chhajer, who also serves as Chief Sustainability and Strategy Officer for Belgium-based Gemini Corporation, took over as CEO of GemCorp in 2024 after more than a decade with the group.
His background spans operations, market development, and sustainability strategy, making him uniquely positioned to bridge global ESG standards with the on-ground realities of waste recovery in India.
GemCorp is also a member of the Prevent Waste Alliance, a global network of organizations focused on reducing plastic leakage and improving circular systems, a community Plastiks is proud to be part of as well.
“Circularity is not just an environmental goal for us, it’s a business model,” Chhajer says. “And business models must scale with trust.”
With more than 75 operational recovery centers, a custom-built blockchain platform called ReMake, and deep ties to both government and private-sector clients, GemCorp is showing how recycling can move beyond good intentions, and into verified impact
How GemCorp Scaled Recycling from Informal Roots to National Reach
When GemCorp began operations in India, it wasn’t envisioned as a major recycling company. Instead, it started with a social mission: to empower the informal waste ecosystem, where over two million waste pickers operate in the margins, often without recognition, fair pay, or safety.
“We never started it as a very big recycling company,” says Vikas Chhajer, CEO of GemCorp Recycling & Technologies Pvt Ltd. “We started it more as a social initiative.”
The first major step? Supplying baling machines to small aggregators in slum areas, machines that could compress plastic waste by 15–20 times its volume, slashing logistics costs and increasing profitability for grassroots collectors.
In exchange, GemCorp signed formal agreements for minimum monthly supply volumes, injecting structure into an otherwise fragmented system.
“In the first year, we had 15 centers. Today, we have 75 operational ones across India,” Chhajer notes.
“But we actually built closer to 100, some had to be withdrawn due to non-compliance or absconding cases. That’s the reality of working with the informal sector.”
It wasn’t always a smooth path. Convincing waste aggregators to accept equipment, and comply with minimum wage laws, tax systems, and documentation, was a steep challenge. Many had never worked within formal financial systems. Yet over time, the model proved itself.
Take the story of “Munni Bhabhi”, also known as Rubina Bhabhi, an Aggregator working outside Mumbai. When she joined the program, she was collecting just 5–10 tons of plastic per year.
Today, she handles over 100 tons per month and employs over 100 other reclaimers. With a formal tax record and steady contracts, she secured a bank loan to install a PET washing line, scaling her micro-operation into a localized recycling enterprise.
These cases are not isolated. GemCorp’s approach has unlocked measurable social mobility by formalizing the informal. Workers gain access to clean drinking water, safety gear, medical camps, and bank accounts. Most critically, they gain visibility and stability within the circular economy.
Plastiks shares a similar ethos. While GemCorp scales on-the-ground logistics, Plastiks ensures that these grassroots recoveries are verified, accredited, and recorded immutably on-chain. Reflecting a broader truth: circularity is not just about closing loops, it’s about opening access.
Inside the Reclaimers Outreach Program: GemCorp’s Model for Inclusive Circularity
If recycling is the engine of the circular economy, then reclaimers, formerly known as waste pickers, are the unsung mechanics keeping it running.
With over two million informal waste workers in India, GemCorp knew that real progress in recycling had to start with inclusion. The Reclaimers Outreach Program was born, more than charity, it’s a system built to bring dignity, structure, and lasting opportunity to those long left out of the formal economy.
“We don’t call them waste pickers anymore, we call them reclaimers,” explains CEO Vikas Chhajer. “They are entrepreneurs. They’re not bound to anyone, but they’re central to the value chain.”
The program works at two levels:
- Aggregators: small-scale operators with storage space, are equipped with baling machines and integrated into supply contracts with GemCorp. These machines reduce plastic waste volume by up to 20 times, improving logistics and increasing revenue potential.
- Reclaimers: independent collectors, are supported through monthly community outreach initiatives: from scholarships and medical camps to safety equipment, banking access, and clean drinking water.
The results are visible. In Kerala, a cooperative once focused on local pickup now feeds into GemCorp’s national recycling network. Collected milk pouches are transformed into e-commerce packaging for brands like Flipkart and Amazon.
“We can’t always ask them directly how their lives have changed,” says Chhajer. “But we see the ripple effects, more consistent collection, higher volumes, stronger local partnerships.”
By formalizing informal labor, the program doesn’t just empower people, it enables traceability. That’s essential for ESG compliance and aligns with Plastiks’ own mission: issuing plastic credits based on verified recovery and roadmap-linked impact.
The Multilayer Challenge: Why Volume Matters
Multilayer plastics (MLPs), the flexible packaging found in chip packets, detergent pouches, and tobacco sachets, are widely used, yet notoriously difficult to recycle. The challenge isn’t just technical, it’s economic.
“They’re not even recyclable, at least not mechanically,” says Chhajer. “And niche solutions won’t cut it, we need volume.”
While some innovators turn MLPs into flower pots or bricks, GemCorp focuses on scalable reuse. Through partnerships in India, the company has now created a capacity to upcycle up to 1,000 tons per month of MLPs into durable boards and other products for benches, auto-rickshaw seating, and furniture.
Simultaneously, GemCorp is testing chemical recycling partnerships in Europe, supplying agglomerated polyolefins to pyrolysis players.
These early-stage pilots address a major bottleneck: the lack of clean, consistent feedstock for advanced recycling technologies.
“If we solve the feedstock problem, chemical recycling could scale, and take on what mechanical methods can’t,” he adds.
Plastiks recognizes this too: even complex plastics deserve traceable recovery. Every verified kilogram, MLP or otherwise, can be captured on-chain, credited, and tied to impact funding. Because in the race for circularity, proof matters more than potential.
GemCorp’s ReMake Platform: What Blockchain Really Adds to Recycling
Traceability in recycling isn’t new, but it’s rarely bulletproof. For decades, paper trails and spreadsheets have underpinned claims of recovery and reuse, leaving wide margins for error, fraud, or greenwashing. GemCorp’s answer? ReMake, a blockchain-based platform designed to log every step of the circular economy, from collection to conversion.
Launched four years ago, ReMake allows each actor in the chain, whether a reclaimer, sorter, recycler, or buyer to input actions using unique credentials. Once verified, each transaction is locked on-chain, creating an immutable ledger of who did what, when, and where.
“We’ve always done traceability,” Chhajer explains. “But blockchain gave us something paper never could: trust without tampering.”
For GemCorp, blockchain isn’t a marketing gimmick, it’s compliance infrastructure, especially when servicing international clients subject to tightening ESG and EPR frameworks.
While adoption remains limited within India, demand is rising fast from European and North American brands seeking audit-ready, fraud-resistant data.
“In India, brands still focus on recycled material,” Chhajer adds. “But globally, traceability is the next frontier of accountability.”
With ReMake, GemCorp is proving that tech-enabled transparency isn’t just about visibility, it’s about market access, regulatory readiness, and supply chain credibility.
Plastic Credits and the Financing Gap: Closing the Loop with Proof
The economics of recycling are skewed. Virgin plastic is often cheaper than recycled alternatives, informal labor avoids taxation and social protections, and compliance costs rarely get absorbed into market prices.
“Plastic credits aren’t just incentives, they’re essential alternatives.”
These gaps aren’t just regulatory, they’re financial. “There’s a financing gap that holds the whole sector back,” says Vikas Chhajer. “Plastic credits help close it, but only if they’re verifiable.”
GemCorp’s view is pragmatic: plastic credits, when backed by verified data and traceable recovery, can channel funding where it’s most needed, into the hands of reclaimers, aggregators, and local processors who bear the real costs of sustainability.
That’s where Plastiks comes in. Our model links every plastic credit to on-chain proof of recovery and a custom impact roadmap, ensuring proceeds are not only traceable but mission-aligned. This isn’t just a carbon offset analog, it’s a plastic accountability mechanism built for the circular economy.
“If the gap is closed, recycling volumes could double overnight—without even building new capacity,” Chhajer notes.
In places like India, where EPR pricing is dramatically lower than in Europe, traditional compliance systems often fail to drive real-world impact. “In India, EPR is $10 per ton. In Belgium, it’s over €200,” Chhajer points out.
The result? Paper compliance without physical recovery. In these contexts, plastic credits aren’t just incentives, they’re essential alternatives. When backed by blockchain, they offer a verifiable mechanism to finance recovery, prevent greenwashing, and meet rising global standards for traceability and impact.
What’s Next for Recycling? Scaling, Technology and Verified Trust
For all the technological progress and social impact already achieved, Chhajer is clear-eyed about what lies ahead: scale, flexibility, and above all, trust.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution,” he says. “What works in Europe doesn’t always work in India or Brazil. But what’s universal is the need for traceability, and for systems that actually work on the ground.”
As GemCorp continues expanding its physical footprint, now operating 75 centers across India, it’s also deepening its investment in data-driven infrastructure, from blockchain platforms to pre-sorted feedstock for chemical recycling. The goal isn’t just to grow volumes; it’s to prove, transparently, that recovery is real.
That’s why Chhajer sees value in Plastiks’ model too.
“What Plastiks is building, blockchain-based verification and traceability, will be in huge demand,” he notes. “Even in India, it’s coming. States, clients, regulators, everyone will want proof. And that data will be valuable in its own right.”
He’s not alone in this view. As CSRD and EPR regulations tighten across Europe, and as brands face growing scrutiny over their supply chains, the ability to link recovery to proof, and proof to impact—will define market access. For GemCorp, for Plastiks, and for the circular economy at large, tech-backed credibility isn’t just a differentiator anymore, it’s the baseline.
Why the Circular Economy Will Be Built on Proof, Not Promises
Chhajer’s vision cuts through the noise: circularity only works when it's grounded in real systems—machines, people, processes, and proof.
From grassroots reclaimers to blockchain-backed platforms, GemCorp’s story reminds us that innovation in sustainability isn’t about inventing new buzzwords—it’s about making what matters verifiable, valuable, and visible.
At Plastiks, we’re proud to be building the infrastructure that supports this shift, blockchain-verified recovery, plastic credits linked to impact roadmaps, and dashboards that bring transparency to life.
Because the future of recycling won’t just be measured in tons, it will be measured in trust. Let’s bring traceability to your recovery operations. Connect with our sustainability experts today.
