PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2018

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 05/18 www.petpla.net 14 Growth areas for an established packaging material PET the Indian way It is almost 40 years ago that PET found its way into the Indian packaging market. Initially introduced for edible oil and jars for pickles and spices, the market quickly expanded to include bottled water, CSD, alcoholic beverages, fruit drinks, wellness drinks, personal care, agro-chemicals – and it did not stop there. Today all the milk variants as well as wine & beer are also packaged in PET. Now India is all set to reach the milestone of 1m TPA of PET consumption in 2018-19! Although PET has been an established packaging material in India for many decades, there are still segments where it is experienc- ing an upswing. “The emerging PET applications in India include fresh/ flavoured milk, UHT milk, chaas/ lassi, beer, paint, bulk edible oil packs.” explains Rajesh K. Gera, AVP Business Development – Reli- ance Industries Limited (RIL). He continues: “In addition to sparkling clear packs, opaque PET use is also growing due to the glossy pack finish in end-use sectors like paint, spices, edible oil among others.” Value-positioning is today encour- aging an uptake in the use of PET and providing opportunities for non-Cola beverages in the health-wellness sector and this has resulted in the introduction of variants of fruit drinks, avoured water, nimboo paani and other beverages in PET. As far as soft drinks are concerned, Reliance estimates that the double-digit growth will continue, hovering at around 10% plus. Small size packs are espe- cially in demand. After the successful rollout of 250ml and 300ml bottles by regional majors, 160ml bottles have now also been successfully launched. “These are able to reach the “bottom of pyramid” customers, and for this reason, one of the FMCG majors is intending to launch juices in asepti- cally lled PET bottles in different pack sizes” explains Gera. The alcoholic drinks market The alcoholic drinks market is also a growing one for PET. “In countries like India, one of the ways to effectively connect to consumers for alcohol products is also through appropriate and smart packaging including Interactive Packaging”, says Gera. PET bottles are extensively used for Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) and the growing trend is to further shift to PET for more and more liquor variants. The use of PET bot- tles in liquor has seen the emergence of niche shapes and colour effects. It has led to enhanced product appeal and increased sales for the said liquor variants in PET packs. Beer in PET is also enjoying great popularity. Brewery SAB Miller for example is using 1l and 1.5l barrier PET bottles, ash pasteurised, for three of their brands with a shelf life of two months. Non-beverage applications Besides food and beverage, the PET packaging market is growing exponentially: “Primarily, this includes the home and personal care market,” explains Gera. “The all-India PET con- sumption is 130kta in these sectors, and we are witnessing an ongoing shift from polyolens to PET for differ- ent pack variants. This is mainly due to improved bottle physicals and the cost-competitiveness PET offers.” The growing non-food market for PET also includes agro-chemicals and paints. For agro-chemicals, cur- rently 10kta+ of PET is used, and this is increasing. As far as paints are concerned, Gera says that “PET is currently used for water-based paints, and there is interest for solvent-based paints. We foresee good potential for the use of bulk PET containers for this market in India”. There is an emergence of ‘Injec- tion-moulded Items’ in PET, and RIL has developed special resins for this segment. Today PET trays, glasses and many other products in PET have been successfully launched in India. Blood collection tubes have been also successfully developed and other emerging markets for PET are EBM and thin wall mouldings. Outlook It is expected that the PET pack- aging market in India will continue the exponential growth it has shown in the past decades. In 2007-08, PET usage was 210kta and in 2016-17 it was 830kta, a growth of 300% in 10 years. Gera sums up: “India is now all set to reach the mile-stone of 1m TPA of PET consumption in 2018-19!” www.ril.com MATERIALS Special