Sachin Sharma
CEO
Gem Enviro Management Pvt Ltd
What is the annual consumption of PET bottles in India? When did you decide to be apparel and bag manufacturer from recycled PET? What is its demand? Which countries are active in this sector?
Currently, in India, the total PET consumption is around 1 million tonnes per annum out of which around 800,000 tonnes PET is indigenously produced and the rest is imported. Out of the 1 million tonne, 500,000 tonne is used for packaging, 400,000 tonne is used in the textile sector whereas the rest 100,000 tonne is used in films, magnetic tapes and other means. It is estimated that PET packaging is poised to grow in early double digits for the next 5 years.
About 4300,000 tonne of PET is recycled as per legal and environmental guidelines but the rest 4200,000 tonnes are either not recycled or are send to landfills or used illegally as spurious products. This is hazardous for the environment as PET is non-biodegradable. It is widely accepted that the most effective solution for PET scrap management is awareness, recycling and promotion/use of recycled merchandise.
As a scrap management company that aims to promote recycling and helps in conserving the environment, GEM Enviro has always tried to provide total packaging waste management solutions to its clients that include collection, recycling and sale of recycled merchandise. Therefore, right from inception GEM Enviro decided to get into apparel and bag manufacturing from recycled PET. Almost 70 per cent of the recycled PET fibre in India is used in apparels, bags and fibrefill. Rest is used for non-woven applications such as carpets, blankets, etc.
The demand for recycled PET fabric in the domestic textile market is definitely promising. The recycled PET fibre is considered as sustainable fibre and people are actively demanding the same. The process of making yarn out of these plastic bottle is sustainable. Our product is considered to be of higher quality with extra fineness and softness in the domestic market.
There are no significant differences between virgin yarn and PET recycled yarn. Recycled yarns tend to be softer then the virgin fibre making them good choice for fibrefill and apparels. Such recycled yarns are mostly used in the production of garments like t-shirts, body warmers, and leggings.
China, India, USA, and European countries are currently actively turning plastic waste into fibres for the end-use in textile industry. GEM does not export the fibre or merchandise made from recycled PET, though it plans to do the same in future, despite the government not offering subsidy or tax exemption for manufacturing textile out of the recycled PET bottles.
Published on: 03/01/2017
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
