A three day international conference was held by the Department of Polymer Science and Rubber Technology, Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), and the Kerala branch of Indian Rubber Institute, to put forward the advantages of Polymer Technology. In this conference, nearly 350 delegates from India and abroad took part and total of 80 research papers were presented. 

The recycling of plastic was of the main concern in this conference. It was suggested by everyone, that some constructive decision needs to be taken in this direction in a time-bound manner. 

It has been learnt that a research process is going on at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK), to convert plastic polymers like polythene into petrol. It was further informed in this conference that a reversal process could bear good results, as most of the plastic is hydrocarbons which originate from petroleum. 

“Polymers are already used in making the base of phone chips and now fresh research is going into manufacture new materials,” reported well known polymer scientist Anil K Bhowmick of the Rubber Technology Centre, IIT Kharagpur.