Blog Green Business May 25, 2017

Business Opportunity: PET Recycling

Ever thought about what happens to the cold drink/juice/mineral water bottle after we have discarded it. About 70 per cent of PET bottles are recycled and reused in textile and packaging industry.

India is one of the largest recyclers of PET in the world, next only to China. The industry is growing at a rate of more than 25 per cent per annum. India consumes around 800,000 tonnes of PET resins annually, around 70 per cent of which is collected and recycled. PET recycling business has a turnover of Rs 3,500 crore[1].

PET recycling business is concentrated in Maharashtra and Gujarat, textile and packaging hubs of the country. There are not many PET recycling units in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Given that both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are bountiful in cotton and have identified textile as a focus sector, PET recycling can be an attractive opportunity.

PET Recycling Process

PET bottles are collected by rag pickers and eventually find their way in the recycling factories. Here the bottles are crushed to make PET flakes that are cleaned, cleared of other polymers, hot washed and dried. These flakes can be further processed into fibres (for textile) or injection moulded/ blow moulded for other applications. The quality of PET is measured in terms of its purity (PPM, particle per million of impurities) and its hardness (Intrinsic viscosity, IV). The quality of PET flakes is dependent on the input as well efficiency of the washing process.

Market

In India recycled PET (R PET) is not allowed for packaging of food items. The key end use applications of RPET include textiles, PET straps and home furnishing. Nearly 70-80 per cent of R pet is consumed in textile industry.

Products can be made from PET Flakes

The industry players are of two types, PET flakes manufacturers and integrated players who process the flakes into fibre or other products. The table below describes some of the integrated players.

Budget

A PET flakes manufacturing unit (comprising PET grinder and washing line) of a capacity of 300 kg per hour can be set up within a budget of Rs. 1 crore. The land requirement would be around 1000 sft. One also needs to develop a strong network of/chain to collect PET waste.

How can we help?

We are an advisory firm green business. We can help you assess viability of your proposed PET recycling venture including assessing raw material availability, costing and market. If you already have a green business, we can support you in growing your venture through a number of solutions including fund raise and transaction advisory services.