Organised in association with the Indian Plastic Institute, Mumbai, and spearheaded by Prasad Balan Iyer, HOD of PPT, the event was held on 8 September 2018. The event gave away a cash prize of Rs 45,000 to the winners.

Iyer said, “P-Pack has an aim of bringing the best of the students from BE/BTech courses in plastic, polymer, and packaging related fields and put their knowledge to test alongside the best minds from all over India.”

“The student members of SIES GST-IPI student chapter were enthusiastic with the preparations for P-Pack right from July 2018 and put in pain-staking efforts along with the faculty members in making the P-Pack a thriving event,” added Iyer.

Topics covered during the full-day quiz competition ranged from the plastic material and its characteristics, bio-plastics, processing and conversion, plastic recycling, surface treatment, plastic machinery, plastics in packaging (applications) and analytical testing.

The winner of P-Pack 2018 Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Madurai, took home a cash prize of Rs 20,000 and the winners' trophies. Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Aurangabad came second and Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai, was third. They received cash prizes of Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 along with the trophies respectively.

The event saw an overall participation of nine teams of two members in each team pursuing BE or BTech in the fields of plastic, polymers or packaging. The participant institutes included Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai; SIES GST, Navi Mumbai; Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Madurai; Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Aurangabad; University Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai and North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon.

The chief guests for the event were Umang Shah, national sales and marketing manager, Clariant and chairman of IPI, Mumbai; and Professor CS Purushothaman, visiting professor, University of Mumbai and SNDT.

“All in all the fourth edition of P-Pack was an immensely successful event owing to the support offered by the Indian Plastics Institute of Mumbai, BMPA and Bharat Petroleum,” Iyer said.