Reliance Industries (RIL) on Wednesday said that it would double its PET recycling capacity by setting up a recycled polyester staple fibre (PSF) manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh. 

As a part of this decision, plastic recycling and waste management company Srichakra Ecotex India will build and operate exclusively for RIL the new recycled PSF – Recron GreenGold and PET Flakes Wash-Line in Andhra Pradesh. 

The move is a part of RIL’s commitment to lead the industry on circular economy, enhance its sustainability quotient and bolster the entire polyester and polymer value chain, RIL has said in a media release. 

“RIL's initiative to more than double its recycling capacity to 5 billion post-consumer PET bottles will ensure (that) India maintains over 90 per cent (of) recycling rate. RIL is focusing on sustaining India’s post-consumer PET recycling rate, which is currently the highest in the world,” the company said. 

The initiative would empower entrepreneurs to divert post-consumer used packaging from landfills, set up recycling facilities and create wealth from waste throughout the country, it added. 

RIL currently recycles PET bottles at its Barabanki, Hoshiarpur and Nagothane plants. The post-consumer PET bottles are used as a raw material for manufacturing recycled polyester fibre. 

Currently, the company converts more than 2 billion post-consumer PET bottles into fibres annually. With addition of Srichakra’s capacity, RIL will be instrumental in converting about 5 billion used PET bottles into value-added fibres, the release has added.