India’s ₹10,000 crore recycled plastic bet hits policy roadblock
India’s plastic bottles industry faces a ₹10,000 crore quandary: investments in a costlier, recyclable, food-grade material risk turning dud as regulatory uncertainty has slowed adoption by beverage makers.India drafted rules in February 2022to make it mandatory for beverage-grade bottles to contain at least 30% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (r-PET). It’s a kind of material that can be fully recycled.
The new Plastic Waste Management Rules were scheduled to roll out from 1 April last year, and the industry was given three years to prepare for the transition.In anticipation of the enforcement, bottle makers invested in setting up r-PET capacity. However, the environment ministry’s draft notification in June 2025 proposed relaxing the norms, allowing beverage companies to carry forward any shortfall in meeting recycled plastic usage targets for 2025-26 for up to 3 years, starting 2026-27.More than eight months later, the ministry has yet to release the final notification, causing uncertainty.
The provision has dampened the immediate demand for r-PET and impacted capacity utilization, said industry representatives. Key consumers of PET bottles include beverage makers such as PepsiCo India, Bisleri International, and Coca-Cola.India’s PET consumption is estimated at around 12-14 lakh tonnes a year.
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