'PET bottles recycling a Rs 3500 crore industry now'

Recycling of PET bottles has grown to become a Rs 3,500-crore industry and nearly 70 per cent of PET waste is reprocessed in the country, a report said here.
The report, released recently by the Pune-based National Chemical Laboratory, has revealed that close to 70 per cent of PET bottles get recycled through the organised sector in the country. The report, which aimed to answer questions on the afterlife of PET bottles, puts the annual PET recycling business in India at an estimated Rs 3,500 crore.
Initiated by Pet Packaging Association for Clean Environment (PACE), the scope of this project was to understand the PET recycling scenario in the country.

P.C Joshi, General Secretary PACE, said," We initiated this project in 2016, to develop a robust, ground-level understanding of how PET recycling happens in India and to document the findings through a website and a report.
"The study has revealed that 70 per cent of PET waste in India is recycled. It also found that, of the 900-kilo tonnes of PET made in India annually, 65 per cent is recycled at registered facilities, 15 per cent in the unorganised sector and 10 per cent is reused at homes," Joshi said in a statement here.
PET is one of the most widely used plastics for packaging applications. Apart from being food safe, what makes PET a popular choice is the fact that it is also strong, lightweight, transparent and shatter-resistant. Moreover, PET's qualities as an effective barrier to carbon dioxide, combined with transparency, makes it one of the most popular choices for packaging of food around the world.