Chemco Group launches PET bottle-to-bottle recycling in India
Key takeaways
- Chemco Group has commissioned a food-grade PET bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in India, backed by an investment of INR?125 crore (US$13.7 million).
- The Gujarat-based plant can recycle over 1 billion post-consumer PET bottles annually, producing rPET suitable for direct F&B packaging applications.
- The closed-loop, in-house recycling model can enhance traceability, supply security, and compliance.
Chemco Group has commissioned a food-grade PET recycling facility in Gujarat, India, to accelerate the country’s transition toward a circular plastics economy. The project benefits from an investment of close to INR₹125 crore (US$13.7 million).
Chemco, one of the country’s leading plastic packaging manufacturers, says the investment positions it among “a select group” of Indian companies offering true end-to-end, bottle-to-bottle recycling at an industrial scale.
“This facility represents a strategic shift in how Chemco approaches sustainability,” says Vaibhav Saraogi, managing director at Chemco Group.
“Rather than treating recycling as an external dependency, we have built a fully integrated bottle-to-bottle ecosystem that gives our customers confidence in supply security, traceability, and compliance. This is not just an investment in infrastructure — it is an investment in the future of responsible packaging.”
Facility uniqueness
Located in the industrial town of Sanand, the facility has the capacity to recycle over 1 billion post-consumer PET bottles annually and to convert them into high-quality recycled PET (rPET) suitable for direct F&B packaging applications.
The commissioning is said to strengthen Chemco’s domestic capabilities to replace virgin plastic with certified recycled material while maintaining its quality and safety standards.
Chemco’s in-house recycling further aims to support partners in meeting mandates on recycled content, EPR obligations, and sustainability commitments without making any compromises on performance or food safety.
The facility has been developed as a closed-loop operation, including control across the recycling value chain. The use of an integrated approach is said to enhance traceability, reduce dependency on external suppliers, and lower the environmental impact associated with long logistics routes.
The scale of operations allows Chemco to deliver the quality and volumes required by large beverage, FMCG, and food brands, according to the company.
The project further delivers industrial and regional benefits, such as generating skilled employment, strengthening Gujarat’s position as a manufacturing and sustainability hub, and contributing to India’s broader objectives of waste reduction, resource efficiency, and circular manufacturing.
Food-grade packaging
Chemco has over three decades of experience in PET packaging, supplying rigid and flexible solutions to leading domestic and international brands.
It offers large-scale PET recycling to partner companies seeking “credible, compliant, and scalable” sustainable packaging solutions.
The company says that demand for food-grade recycled materials continues to rise across global markets, adding that it plans to leverage this rise to support higher recycled-content applications and future capacity expansions.
Chemco is focused on combining industrial scale with regulatory discipline and environmental responsibility.
Also in India, Ball Corporation recently invested US$60 million in its Sri City facility to meet growing consumer demand and strengthen regional supply chains.
