Thailand’s IVL to build PET recycling plant in Indonesia

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Indorama Ventures Ltd (IVL) is building a new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle recycling plant at Karawang in west Java, Indonesia, the Thailand-listed producer said on Tuesday.

The facility is expected to start up in 2023 and will recycle 1.92bn PET plastic bottles annually in support of the Indonesian government’s plan to reduce ocean debris, the company said in a statement.

Investment details in the new recycling plant were not disclosed.

The recycling plant will provide the washed and shredded post-consumer bottles as PET flake feedstock to produce recycled resin suitable for food applications, IVL said.

Indonesia is aiming to reduce 70% of its 2017 plastic debris by the end 2025.

PET plastic, commonly used in bottles, is 100% recyclable and the most collected and recycled plastic packaging in the world, IVL said.

“Giving waste an economic value as feedstock for new bottles, also drives improvements in waste collection systems,” said D K Agarwal, CEO of IVL’s combined PET, integrated oxides and derivatives (IOD) and fibres business.

As announced in 2019, IVL aims to recycle a minimum of 750,000 tonnes of PET globally by 2025, with a planned investment of up to $1.5bn.

The new plant in Karawang, along with its other recycling facilities in southeast Asia, will work with existing PET flake production facilities in Indonesia.

Indorama Ventures has six production sites in Indonesia across Purwakarta, Cilegon, Tangerang and Karawang.

The company has an existing a 36,000 tonne/year polyester fibre plant at Karawang, according to the ICIS Supply & Demand Database.

Photo: Bales of PET bottles at Indorama Polyester Industries at Nakhon Pathom in Thailand (Source: IVL)