Thailand-based Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), has announced plans to construct a new PET recycling facility in Karawang, West Java.
PET plastic, commonly used in bottles, is 100% recyclable and the most collected and recycled plastic packaging in the world. According to IVL, who is the leading global producer of recycled PET for beverage bottles, the new facility will recycle 1.92 billion PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles annually and create 217 new jobs, as well as bringing indirect employment to the area At the plant, which is scheduled to launch in 2023, the PET bottles will be washed and shredded into PET flake feedstock that is then further processed into food-grade rPET resin.
The new facility will serve to support the Government of Indonesia’s National Plan of Action on Marine Plastic Debris, announced in 2017 and aimed at reducing the country’s ocean plastic levels by 70% by 2025. Indonesia is the largest archipelagic state in the world, with extensive ecosystems of coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass. Marine plastic debris has become a major threat to the country’s marine and coastal biodiversity.
Bahlil Lahadalia, Minister of Investment of the Republic of Indonesia, praised the initiative of Indorama Ventures ‘to help the government to end and mitigate the plastic waste crisis through their investment in this greenfield recycling facility’.
“It is time for the government, and all of us, to take action and address the waste problem. We invite more investors who are committed to social impacts for the community and environment,” he said.
PET should never end up in the oceans, emphasised Yashovardhan Lohia, Chief Sustainability Officer at Indorama Ventures.
“Today’s announcement is possible because of Indonesia’s ambitious national plan to reduce marine plastic debris by 70%, reduce solid waste by 30%, and handle 70% of solid waste by 2025.”
Indorama Ventures has six Indonesian sites across Purwakarta, Cilegon, Tangerang and Karawang. This new plant in Karawang, along with its other recycling facilities in Southeast Asia, will work with existing PET flake production facilities in Indonesia.
“The Indonesia Government’s leadership on waste allows us to invest in the infrastructure needed. Giving waste an economic value, as feedstock for new bottles, also drives improvements in waste collection systems,” said D K Agarwal, CEO of Combined PET, IOD and Fibers Business at Indorama Ventures. “By building the infrastructure to recycle post-consumer PET bottles into new bottles, we are reducing waste and preserving our oceans. This new recycling facility will support our shared goal of closed-loop solutions and clean oceans.”
Indorama Ventures currently operates recycling facilities in Mexico, USA, Brazil, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Thailand and from 2021 in the Philippines. In 2019 Indorama Ventures announced it aim of recycling a minimum of 750,000 metric tons of PET globally by 2025, investing up to US$1.5 billion to achieve this goal.