Indorama Ventures reaches milestone of 100 billion PET bottles recycled

Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd., a global sustainable chemical company based in Bangkok, Thailand, says it has recycled 100 billion postconsumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles since February 2011, diverting 2.1 million tons of waste from the environment and saving 2.9 million tons of carbon footprint from the product life cycles in that span.

Additionally, the company says it has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the establishment of a circular economy for PET by spending more than $1 billion in the last 10 years toward the collection of used PET bottles.

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“As we mark the recycling of 100 billion PET bottles, we want to thank consumers for recycling, and global brand owners for using recyclable and recycled packaging while also increasing collection rates,” Indorama Ventures founder and group CEO Aloke Lohia says. “The scale of the waste challenge requires us all to do more, faster. In March 2020, we announced achieving the milestone of 50 billion PET bottles recycled in nine years. Today, we hit the 100 billion mark in three-and-a-half years.

“By recycling postconsumer PET bottles into new bottles, we give waste an economic value,” he adds. “This drives improvements in waste collection systems, meaning less waste and a cleaner environment. In the last 10 years we have spent more than $1 billion towards waste collection systems for used PET bottles. We pledge to continue our long-term focus on circularity.”

The company says it also has committed another $1.5 billion to expand its recycling business by expanding its recycling facilities, infrastructure and public education programs, adding that the unique PET used in soft drink and water bottles is fully recyclable and is collected in practice and at scale. To build on its position as a producer of recycled resin used in plastic beverage bottles, the company also is seeking advanced technologies to deliver more recycling infrastructure globally and reduce life cycle carbon emissions.

Indorama says it now has 20 recycling sites in Asia, the Americas and Europe. The company notes it has recently doubled the capacity of a recycling site in Brazil and opened PETValue, the largest bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in the Philippines, in partnership with Coca-Cola. Both projects are part of a $300 million “blue loan” Indorama received in 2020 from the International Finance Corp. (IFC), part of the World Bank, and Asian Development Bank.

The loan has the objective of increasing recycling capacity and delivering plastic waste from landfills and oceans in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, India and Brazil. Indorama also has partnered with the Yunus Foundation, a nonprofit organization promoting sustainable development with a global network and a goal of educating 1 million consumers globally about recycling by 2030.

“Sustainability is at the core of our company,” Lohia says. “These achievements reflect our commitment to environmental sustainability and our determination to establish a truly circular economy for PET packaging. Reaching this milestone is a testament to our planet’s growing commitment to sustainability. Each of these bottles represents a reduction in waste and a step towards a world where no packaging ends up as litter or waste. This milestone achievement shows the positive change that can occur when we work together to support PET recycling and strive for a more circular world.”