By Arun Rao
For 30 years, your company was engaged in the recycling of PET bottles into polyester staple fibers and yarns, establishing us as a leader in the manufacture of recycled raw materials for the textile industry. The company made a decisive extension to play a larger role in helping green and decarbonise the world by leveraging advanced technology to make recycled PET packaging safe for food and human contact using waste bottles. This distinctive grave-to-cradle commitment has graduated us in a new dimension where we are now becoming an integral part of the FMCG ecosystem.
The extension of this business model will play a crucial role in empowering downstream customers to reduce energy consumption and moderate their carbon footprint. By playing the role of a responsible upstream catalyst, we are deepening our business sustainability.
This synergic extension has empowered the company to moderate its excessive dependence on one market segment to address wider and more profitable segments.
The company invested in a bottle-tobottle expansion and launched the brand Go Rewise® in FY 2022-23 to market new products. This year we strengthened our position in the bottle-to-bottle recycling which unlocked a value-added niche and a larger addressable market.
The complement of these upsides is expected to translate into a larger turnover around superior margins. This is expected to strengthen cash flows, reinvestments and profitable growth. In turn, this is expected to transform the brand of the company around business circularity and responsible citizenship, validating that green business is good business. This also strengthens our commitment to create circular solutions and initiatives – catalysing circularity in motion.
Towards net zero
Accelerating our journey towards achieving net zero emissions is pivotal for realizing the benefits of a circular economy and countering climate change. While a number of brands have set net zero targets for themselves, governments around the world have tightened regulations around sustainable sourcing. One such regulation is the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) across countries; this holds producers and brand owners responsible for the lifecycle of their plastic packaging. This makes them responsible for collection, processing and increasing the proportion of recycled materials in packaging and products.
Ganesha is among select companies to have invested in this business segment with foresight. The company invested to address the needs of the day and build infrastructure required for the coming years. The company’s large manufacturing facility is positioned to support the growing recycled products target of its customer brands. This ESG-compatible approach will elevate the brand identity of our customers as environment-friendly, and planet-positive while increasing their profitability, and market share due to a shifting consumer preference for sustainability.
Looking ahead, we expect most beverage and FMCG brands to graduate from the use of virgin polymer to recycled polymer. This will widen the market for companies like ours engaged in recycling polymer waste to produce food-grade recycled polymers.
The circular economy is emerging as one of the largest economic opportunities; it offers a USD 10 Trillion global opportunity in reducing waste, stimulating innovation and creating employment. It promotes clean technologies, creates jobs in sustainable industries, and positions businesses and economies at the forefront of a globally transitioning market. By investing in sustainable practices, we are building a robust foundation for long-term economic prosperity.
Right time
At Ganesha Ecosphere, we believe that the time is right for us. Urban plastic waste is a growing challenge; low coordinated waste collection and a dearth of organized recyclers is making plastic omnipresent.
This incidence is congesting sewage lines, municipal networks and public utilities, affecting water flows, rainfall drainage, public convenience and tourism. The company created a waste collection eco-system across the decades.
It has partnered the best PET recycling technology providers, customizing and re-designing available technology to process Indian waste and produce rPET resin. The processes have been validated for minimal resource consumption and deepen sustainability supremacy even in operations.
The company’s portfolio diversification addressed the government’s landmark policy, mandating 30% recycled resources in the manufacture of downstream polymer products that comes into effect from FY 2025-26. This proportion is expected to increase to 60% in FY 2028-29, representing a supply chain shift and an opportunity for us. A comprehensive compliance has made the company’s products manufactured from consumer waste completely safe for use with food products. This represents the frontier of the polymer recycling business, marked by some of the highest food grade compliance standards.
In the textile segment, the company secured approvals from several global brands to supply recycled PSF, positioning the company to benefit from the growing trend of sustainable sourcing and achieve better pricing compared to general commodity products. The domestic market is expected to strengthen with the Indian Government’s introduction of BIS standards for PSF and yarn, which will standardize quality and reduce lower quality, cheaper imports from Southeast Asian countries.
The company aims to capitalize on the growing textile demand by developing value-added products such as short-cut fiber and specialized yarns for export and domestic markets, targeting higher margins
Established competencies
Ganesha Ecosphere brings to the table a complement of long-standing competencies. The company has been a leading player in the PET recycling space, recycling a significant share of India’s PET bottle waste. This competence has been sustained by supply chain access to growing plastic waste quantities through a network of 270+ suppliers.
This waste is processed in the company’s six manufacturing facilities across India and Nepal with a total processing capacity of 196,440 TPA . This throughput is offered through a portfolio of 500+ product variants. In turn, the company is engaged in relationships with 425+ customers across 19 countries.
At Ganesha Ecosphere, we are not just manufacturing a product that is contributing to circularity; we are utilizing responsible processes in doing so, deepening our commitment to holistic responsibility. The company commissioned 11.49 MWp of rooftop solar power capacity across production facilities in Temra, Rudrapur, Bilaspur and Kanpur. The company entered into a partnership with a leading independent power producer for the supply of solar power for captive consumption.
The company extended this responsibility to the use of water. The Warangal facility is equipped to recycle around 95% water used in operations, drawing only 5% freshwater resource and being a zero liquid discharge facility.
Building the business
At Ganesha Ecosphere, we are attractively placed to build on our position as a sustainable business conducted in a responsible way. The company is capitalizing on a growing global interest in rPET for bottle grade applications. The company is one of few large companies in India in this space with as large a capacity. The company is building relationships with some of the largest global beverage brands seeking to grow their use of PET bottles made from recycled polymer, addressing their sustainability goals.
The company is focusing on growing its international sales and visibility through a consistent participation in global exhibitions. The company is committed to recycle PET plastic waste into premium quality end products. The company recognises the urgency with which the world needs to decarbonize. During the last quarter of the year under review, the company embarked on yet another capacity expansion of 14,000 TPA (following its initial 14,000 TPA)rPET granules. As a part of the net worth component, the company issued capital worth Rs. 500 Cr through a qualified institutional placement of equity shares as well as allotment of share warrants on preferential basis. This placement attracted credible names like SBI Mutual Funds, Goldman Sachs Funds,and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, validating the company’s business model.
The projected growth of the bottle-to-bottle recycling business is expected to increase the proportion of its revenues from 7% in FY 2023-24 to a projected 40% thereafter on achieving the peak utilization of capacities installed. This evolution will help enhance the company’s consolidated margins profile, deepening business sustainability.
At the cusp of a new world
At Ganesha Ecosphere, we find ourselves positioned at the start of a new world. The world that we aspire for will be increasingly resource efficient and progressively decarbonized. We expect to play an active role in making this world a reality through proactive capacity creation and emerging as a preferred supplier of planet-positive, circular rPET products to reputed textile and FMCG brands. Mere manufacture will not be enough; the company is engaged in building a first-mover advantage and become preferred supplier of rPET bottle grade chips for established FMCG brands and high quality rPET fibers and yarns for textile brands. This is expected to widen the company’s influence and make it an agency of positive change and exceptional growth in business.
By completing the loop from concept to supply, we have reinvented the company, created a new growth engine and deepened business sustainability.
