By Dede Williams

 

IVL Dhunseri Petrochem Industries and Dhunseri Ventures, both subsidiaries of Thai PET giant Indorama Ventures (IVL, Bangkok; www.indoramaventures.com) have formed a joint venture with Varun Beverages (Haryana, India; www.varunbeverages.com), PepsiCo’s second-largest bottling company outside the US, to build greenfield PET recycling facilities in India. 

IVL is touting the plans, which initially call for two facilities – both due onstream in 2025 with potential for a third – as a “substantial move” towards meeting the increasing demand for recycled content throughout India. 

One of the plants is to be built at Kathua in northern India, the other at Khurdha in eastern India’s Odisha state. Combined output capability would amount to 100,000 t/y of recycled PET.

The Thai group said the investment reflects “escalating demand” for rPET content in India, driven by regulatory mandates as well as a collective effort towards creating a circular economy for PET.

India’s government has mandated that by 2025-26 all plastic packaging must contain at least 30% recyclate – this is to rise to 60% by 2028-2029. In tandem with the stiffer requirements and reflecting the tight compliance timeframe, IVL said India’s beverage brand owners have established “ambitious sustainability goals”.

Related: Carbios plans French PET recycling plant with Indorama

Output volume of rPET across the country is projected to rise from around 400,000 t/y in 2025-2026 to more than 1 mn t/y by 2031. As the world’s largest recycler of the polymer, IVL believes it is well positioned to play “a pivotal role” in meeting India’s evolving requirements.

By its own account, the group has been operating PET recycling facilities since 2011 and in 2023 recycled more than 100 bn bottles. By 2025, it foresees having capacity to handle 750,000 t (50 bn bottles) annually.

IVL recently announced that it had secured a USD 200 mn loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to help fund its sustainability programmes in India as well as in Thailand and Indonesia.

Separately, Indorama said it has achieved sustainability and carbon certification under ISCC-Plus for key polyester fibre manufacturing sites. Across its entire portfolio, from feedstock purified terephthalic acid (PTA) to PET chips, fibres, and fabric, nine production sites now have ISCC-Plus certification, it added.