MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 26 No. 10/25 www.petpla.net 23 Applications The different end-uses of rPET in India include fibre fill, non-woven, POY, PSF, monofilament, bottles for food and non-food applications, sheets, strap, injection moulding, masterbatches, among others. It has more applications in non-bottle enduses, especially the fibre industry. The polyester fibre is used as a filling material for cushions, pillows and converted to fabrics for use in clothing, upholstery. These products include T-shirts, caps, jackets, scarfs, carry bags etc. Just for instance, the Indian cricket team’s apparel is made from recycled PET bottles. Some of the other applications in India are for nonwoven (for automobile, carpets, boot liner, headliner), synthetic leather, fibre filling, spun yarn and textiles. It is encouraging to note that companies like Adidas, Nike and many others make athletic merchandise from recycled polyester in India. This makes their brand ‘greener’ (circular) and it helps command a premium over their regular products. In the non-bottle area, rPET sheet usages include blister packaging of toothbrushes, battery cells, toiletries etc. both for the domestic as well as for the export markets by major brand-owners. It has been enabled by collaboration between all the stake holders including the major Indian PET raw material manufacturers, sheet suppliers, thermoformers/FFS (Form Fill Seal) companies along with the brand-owners and machinery suppliers. Machinery As the quality of recycled chips depends on all process steps, there is a clear shift in the Indian mindset towards high-end recycling machines for new recycling projects in India, to get further improved quality of recycled PET chips. Technical alliances both at the Indian and global level for recycling machinery are in the offing, and many machines are being made in India through foreign collaboration. Ishitva Robotic Systems Pvt. Ltd. have made some significant inroads in sorting machines for handling the mixed plastic waste including PET. Promotion There has been quite a spurt in installation of reverse vending machines (RVM) in the last one decade due to the concerted efforts of machinery suppliers and PET resin manufacturers. There are 1,000+ RVM machines installed all over India. The objective has been to sensitise both the public and decision makers on the need for recycling and to create awareness among decision makers about the vast recycling ecosystem existing for PET recycling in India. Regulations In India, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) frames standards for different packaging materials and enduses including recycled resins. For e.g., IS 14534: 2023 covers guidelines for the recovery and recycling of plastic waste and IS 14535: 1998 is the BIS for using recycled plastics for the manufacturing of different products focusing on non-food sectors. The use of rPET in food and beverages end-uses was not allowed till recently in India. FSSAI had come out with “draft food safety and standards packaging (amendment) regulations” for use of recycled plastics in 2022 as food contact materials based on PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) rules 2021. They have now come out with guidelines for acceptance of “recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as food contact material (FCM rPET)”. The scope of this guideline pertains only to the recycling process and operation of transforming post-consumer PET used for food applications into rPET as food contact material (FCM rPET) resins suitable for making food contact materials. It covers the acceptance criteria for using (FCM rPET) resin in food contact materials. It applies only to the recycling technology approved by FSSAI. It does not apply to production of resins for nonfood grade consumer applications. Thus, approved guidelines and acceptance criteria for use of recycled post-consumer PET for the food contact applications are also being made effective for implementation. The draft amendment regulations are in process of approval by BIS and its notification soon. The India’s regulatory landscape is evolving to support technologies for production of food contact grade rPET resins. Under the amended Plastic Waste Management rules, producers, importers, and brand owners (PIBOs) are mandated to include a minimum percentage of recycled plastic content in their packaging. For rigid plastic packaging, which includes PET bottles and containers, recycled content requirement is 30% for FY 2025–26 and increasing up to 60% by 2028–29. This regulatory push aligns with the capabilities of different technologies and creates a robust market demand for high-quality recycled PET for foodgrade applications. B-to-B PET resin in India There are increasing demands on the quality of rPET recyclate. Brand owners have specific requirements for AA, benzene, and BPA contents, and there are guidelines regarding material, source, and collection systems. The capacity of recycling lines varies from 2 to 8 TPH, and the delta IV increase achieved in SSP ranges from 0.16 to 0.22 dl/g. There are a couple of manufacturers of B-to-B PET resin on a pan-India basis and many more new lines are getting commissioned in ’25 and beyond for the rPET resin suitable for direct food-contact packaging. There is a limited availability of food grade rPET resin and there is a premium for the B-to-B PET resin vs. the virgin PET resin made by the fossil route. The total installed capacity of B-to-B PET resin is expected to reach 1.1m MT by 2030, with an estimated investment of USD 840 million (over Rs 7,500 crore) in recycling systems to produce B-to-B PET resin in India. Technologies for rPET for food-contact packaging (B-to-B resin): 1) Mechanical recycling (super-clean process) 2) Melt-in recycling 3) Paste-in recycling 4) Chemical recycling 5) Bio-chemical recycling (enzymatic recycling) Mechanical recycling (superclean process) The mechanical recycling process for rPET for non-bottle uses involves sorting and washing. In B-to-B resin production, flakes further go through
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