Page 64 - Plastics News December 2025

IN THE NEWS
not, it can end up in landfills/incinerators. The
chemical recycling emerges as a complement to
the conventional mechanical recycling methods
globally and so for India. It breaks down the PET
plastics into their molecular building blocks and
thus enables high-quality recovery of materials
that would otherwise be lost-particularly for the
food-grade applications. These processes have
a good latent potential in the Indian Recycling
ecosystem.
5. Emerging Technologies: Enzymatic Recy-
cling
The PET mechanical recycling industry is fairly
well established globally, including India. There
is, however, a need for niche processes for re-
cycling of difficult-to-recycle polyester mate-
rials. These include colored PET bottles, trays,
laminates and polyester rich textiles. Enzymatic
Recycling (Bio-Chemical Recycling) allows recy-
cling of all these ‘’mixed Polyester waste’’, which
are difficult to be recycled. It gives scope to
leverage on far more economical feedstock, as
one can use all types of waste polyester textiles
along with the difficult to recycle PET packaging
in this process. All these wastes can be recycled
on a large scale in the near future and thus po-
tential of these end-of-life materials is enormous.
Enzymatic recycling is a fast-emerging technol-
ogy globally with huge latent potential in India.
The development of bio-recycling technologies
64 PLASTICS NEWS
to reinvent the life cycle of PET plastics and pol-
yester textiles is meeting the challenge to move
from ‘end-of-life’ to ‘end-of-cycle’ models.
The Final word: Way Forward!
‘Design for Recycling’ is the new Key for a prod-
uct launch in India & globally. The regulatory sup-
port being extended by FSSAI & BIS will further
expand scope of RPET in India including diffi-
cult-to-recycle rPET items (both for Packaging
& Textiles). It will help to open up new avenues
for all in value-chain in the recycling ecosystem.
The Sustained mantra of ‘Reduce & Reuse’ &
Technologies for ‘Mechanical, B-to-B PET resins,
Chemical & Bio-Chemical (Enzymatic Recycling)’
will help to establish a robust ‘Recycling & Sus-
tainability’ Eco-system for all
There is a 30% mandatory recycled content
regulation for rigid plastics in FY 2025-26 & all
these technologies have to work hand-in hand
for same. A similar trend is seen globally. Invest-
ments by large players in mechanical recycling &
depolymerization technologies is on the horizon.
‘Design for Sustainability’ & ‘Ease of Recycling’
is now in vogue. Countries have benefited from
‘Circularity of Plastics’ for better management
of waste & so will India. Versatility, Affordability,
Convenience & Recyclability will continue to con-
tribute to the growth of rPET industry in India!
December 2025