Expansions: Revalyu to set up PET recycling plants in India/US; Alpla starts production at PET recycling plant in Romania

India’s Revalyu Recycling, a subsidiary of parent company Revalyu Resources GmbH, says it has started the construction of a 200-tonne/day PET plastic recycling plant in India. This plant will be based on an existing proven and fully commercialised chemical recycling technology already in operation at its existing manufacturing plant based in Nashik, India.

Revalyu also announced that it will invest US$50 million during the initial phase of its strategic expansion in its first facility in the US. The location for its new plant will be in Statesboro, Georgia where groundbreaking will take place in the first half of 2023 and commissioning of the facility is planned for 2024.

The 43-acre Statesboro site will employ approximately 70 people. When the first phase is completed, the plant will be able to recycle and process over 100,000 tonnes/day of used PET waste into sustainable PET polymers and rPET chips. In further expansion, the plant will up the capacity to almost double.

Revalyu was formed to build and commercialise the world’s first breakthrough chemical full glycolysis recycling plant in Nashik, India. In 2022, Heraeus Group from Germany acquired a majority stake in Revalyu Resource to help with its expansion plans.

“As a company, we are committed to finding sustainable solutions to the growing need for recycled plastic and we have successfully proven that chemical recycling of PET has significant advantages over legacy mechanical recycling processes,” said Makarand Kulkarni CEO of Revalyu Recycling (India). The Indian plant will also be located in Nashik, India, and is expected to be operational within 12 months. It will use chemical recycling technology to recycle used plastic bottles into polyester polymer (ester), rPET chips and filament yarns.

Using a breakthrough chemical recycling technology, Revalyu has already recycled over 6 billion bottles. The cost-effective recycling process extracts impurities efficiently and delivers recycled PET of highest purity. The process uses 91% less energy and 67% less water than conventional polyester processes.

Revalyu’s rPET chips can be used to produce any kind of sustainable PET product. Currently, it is mostly used in the textile industry for applications such as seamless knitting, weaving, denim, automotive, furniture or technical textiles.

“The recycling process is unique and delivers the world’s cleanest, highest quality and most sustainable polyester products to our customers. We have commercialised a breakthrough and environmentally sustainable technology and revalyu will become the leading global brand for recycling polyester. We continue to seek strong partners globally who wish to work with us on the global roll out of this technology”, stated Dr. Vivek Tandon, Founder of Revalyu.

In other news, Alpla Group, together with its joint venture partners Ecohelp and United Polymer Trading (UPT) from Switzerland, has opened its first PET recycling plant in in Targu Mures, Romania, after a construction time of nine months and investment of around EUR7.5 million. The plant is now producing around 18,000 tonnes/year of recycled material from household waste. The joint undertaking PET Recycling Team Targu Mures supplies the southeast European market with food-grade rPET and thus promotes the circular economy in the region.

The first extrusion line for the production of high-quality rPET granulate from PET flakes has entered into operation.

The joint venture, which was established in autumn 2021, combines the skill sets of the three companies involved. Alpla brings its many years of expertise as a global recycling specialist and packaging manufacturer, while UPT has an extensive distribution network for plastics and recycled material. The local company Ecohelp supplies the material in the form of recycled PET flakes based on PET bottles from household waste. The food-grade rPET granulate obtained from this process then serves as the starting material for new preforms and bottles.

Alpla says it is investing EUR50 million a year until 2025 in the ongoing expansion of its recycling activities. With its activities for the production of high-quality recycled materials, the global company is promoting complete recycling in as many parts of the world as possible. In total, the annual production capacity of ALPLA’s recycling companies and collaborations around the world amounts to approximately 203,000 tonnes of rPET and 74,000 tonnes of rHDPE.

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