PET Recycling In India

Discarded PET bottles are gathered, sorted, cleaned, shredded, and made into 'washed pieces,' which are then used to deliver an assortment of products, beginning from polyester fiber, which is utilized for an assortment of applications like filling material for cushions, pillows, and changed over to fabrics for use in apparel, upholstery, etc. Recycled PET (a little percentage) is likewise utilized for the production of PET straps, monofilament, sheets and so forth. 

Value Chain of PET Recycling 

There are an extensive number of people engaged with the PET recycling business, beginning from the waste collectors to kabadiwallahs to little to medium traders, recyclers, and manufacturers who use recycled PET for various products.

Step 1

Reaching the waste stream, getting collected

There are different ways by which PET bottles achieve the waste stream for recycling. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one primary source. Every single plastic thing is separated from MSW and sold to a kabadiwallah who has practical experience in plastic waste. As long as PET bottles are segregated (alongside the dry waste) and disposed of, there is a high probability that they will be grabbed and recycled. There are a few angles that separate PET bottles apart other plastic waste. To start with, PET bottles are effectively distinguishable, subsequently simple to get, sort, store, etc. Furthermore, weight per bottle (unfilled) is sensibly high for the waste gatherers to contribute their assets to gather them. There are 40+ vast scale manufacturing units all over India that use recycled PET (washed pieces) as crude material. A kilogram of post-consumer PET bottles fetch the waste gatherers Rs 14-15/kg. ( Prices keep changing constantly)

Step 2

Arranging at the kabadiwallahs 

The kabadiwallahs get mixed plastic waste. They run arranging operations, where individuals sort the waste into polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), milky PP, HDPE, LDPE, PET, etc. This is done for the most part by visual inspection, by exposing the plastic item to a series of improvised tests like touch, bending, snapping, applying solvents, etc. The various plastics are segrated and sold to various traders. The kabadiwallahs get Rs 24-25/kg of PET bottles.

Step 3

Removing non-PET components, sorting, baling

Dealers get anywhere between a couple of hundred kgs to a few tons of PET bottles per day. Every single PET bottle is examined thoroughly, through manual inspection. Initially, all shaded PET bottles (green, amber) are segregated and sold independently. Metal caps, rings (an element basic in PET bottles utilized for packaging alcohol and so forth.) are evacuated by hand. There are numerous sorts of labels applied on PET bottles—PP, PVC and so forth. PVC labels represent a particular problem, as they could genuinely risk the fiber fabricating process. PVC and PET have a comparable thickness, subsequently it is difficult to isolate by flotation; however PVC and PET have diverse Internal Viscosities, which makes it hard to process PET sullied with PVC. Hence all PVC labels (recognized by sight) are evacuated. Jugs produced using different plastics are evacuated. When this is done, the bottles are baled i.e., crushed to make smaller packs, each gauging 120-140 kgs. Baling makes it conceivable to transport PET bottles proficiently by making it possible to transport 8-9 tons in a full-scale truck. 

Step 4

At the PET recyclers —sorting (once again), cleaning, flaking

Trucks conveying bales of PET bottles arrive at the recyclers. The bales are opened and the sorting, cleaning process starts from the very beginning again. The bottles are put through different phases of manual, self-automatic and automatic sorting, cleaning processes. All PVC lables, bottles are expelled. Any metal component that may have slipped in (like caps, rings, springs utilized in spray bottles, etc.) are diligently removed. The bottles are destroyed, and the plastic (non-PVC plastics like PE, PP) components are seperated by buoyancy. The flakes are exposed to further washing, drying and are ready (washed flakes) to be dispatched to the assembling units. 

Step 5

At the manufacturer – transformed into polyester fibers

The washed flakes are melted and spun into fibers of various grades, and used to make PET sheets, monofilament, strap, etc.