Thailand-based Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), the world’s largest producer of recycled PET for beverage bottles, recently announced that it will build a facility in Karawang, West Java, to recycle almost 2 billion plastic bottles a year in support of the government’s plan to reduce ocean debris.
The facility, which is planned to launch in 2023, will recycle 1.92 billion PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles annually and create 217 new jobs. It is part of IVL’s global commitment to divert post-consumer PET bottles away from waste and back into the circular economy, supporting the Government of Indonesia’s National Plan of Action on Marine Plastic Debris. The recycling plant will provide the washed and shredded post-consumer bottles as PET flake feedstock to produce recycled resin that is suitable for food contact use.
As the largest archipelagic state in the world, Indonesia is endowed with great biodiversity, rich natural resources as well as strategic and economic value that have all created blessings and challenges for Indonesians. Against this backdrop, Indonesia will by the end 2025 reduce 70% of its plastic debris from 2017. PET plastic, commonly used in bottles, is 100% recyclable and the most collected and recycled plastic packaging in the world.
“The unique PET plastic used in soft drinks and water bottles is 100% recyclable and must never end up in our oceans. Today we are announcing a new PET recycling facility in Karawang. It will recycle 1.92 billion post-consumer PET bottles per year from across Indonesia by the end of 2023,” said Mr. Yashovardhan Lohia, Chief Sustainability Officer at Indorama Ventures. “We are pleased to contribute to the Indonesian economy by adding 217 ‘green jobs’ as well as indirect employment to the area. 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. With this new recycling facility, IVL brings a circular business model to support our Indonesian operations. In 2019 Indorama Ventures announced it aims to recycle a minimum of 750,000 metric tons of PET globally by 2025, investing up to US$1.5 billion to achieve this goal. IVL’s new plant in Karawang, along with its other recycling facilities in Southeast Asia, will work with existing PET flake production facilities in Indonesia.
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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. 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.
– D K Agarwal, CEO of Combined PET, IOD & Fibers Business at Indorama Ventures