Recycled plastics weekly report | tianfulong listed; shandong zhengkai's chemical method polyester fiber annual capacity exceeds 12,800 tons...

Domestic Hotspots

The chemical recycling project for polyester fiber regeneration is the support for Zhengkai New Material Co., Ltd. to achieve "turning waste into gold." The project is equipped with 50,000 spindles of high-performance ring spinning and 24 advanced vortex spinning production equipment, forming a strong production capacity foundation. Its product line is rich and diverse, covering colored spun virgin and recycled series, cellulose series colored spun yarn, and more, widely used in clothing, home textiles, industrial textiles, and other fields. The project's annual production capacity exceeds 12,800 tons, with the expected annual output value of each production line exceeding 10 million RMB.

The global leading organization for chemical management in the textile industry, ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals), has officially released the "Recycled Polyester Guidelines V1.0 Pilot Edition" and completed its first global practical verification. In 2025, ZDHC, in collaboration with five representative enterprises from China and India (covering chemical and mechanical recycling processes), will launch the world's first pilot study. This study will focus on evaluating key aspects such as raw material traceability, chemical management, and waste monitoring. Zhejiang Jiaren New Materials, as a pioneering enterprise in the field of chemical recycled polyester, is participating in this study, providing crucial practical data and process details for the optimization of the guidelines.

Pilot results show that Jiaren New Materials has met or exceeded 80% of the baseline requirements in core metrics such as chemical management and emission control.

Recently, UNIQLO's global flagship store on Shanghai's Huaihai Middle Road officially launched the newly upgraded RE.UNIQLO STUDIO, introducing the UPCYCLING "Heartfelt Clothing Remake" project and hand-stitched embroidery services.

On the product side, UNIQLO is continuously increasing the proportion of recycled materials used. According to the sustainability vision previously outlined, Fast Retailing, UNIQLO's parent company, aims to replace 50% of all clothing materials with eco-friendly recycled materials by 2030. Starting in 2023, some of UNIQLO's fleece materials are already made from 100% recycled materials. On the service side, the RE.UNIQLO STUDIO is becoming a new initiative, with the project now present in 63 UNIQLO stores across 22 countries and regions globally. It is revitalizing the life of flawed new garments through craftsmanship, allowing consumers to participate in this "recreation" model in a simple and enjoyable way.

The global rPET market is expected to surpass $26.78 billion by 2034, according to the latest report by Precedence Research.

According to the latest report released by Towards Packaging, a research institution under Precedence Research, in August 2025, the global recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) market is in a phase of rapid growth, expected to increase from $11.76 billion in 2024 to $26.78 billion in 2034, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.53%. Despite the environmental advantages of rPET, the low oil prices and subsidy support continue to pose a challenge to rPET prices compared to virgin PET, limiting its penetration in cost-sensitive markets.

BASF collaborates with a circular plastics company to promote food-grade recycled rPET in Vietnam.

On August 7th, BASF China announced that its Coatings division, operating under the Chemetall brand, has been selected to provide innovative PET recycling cleaning solutions for the new plastics recycling plant of Circular Plastics Company in Vung Tau, Vietnam. Chemetall will offer a range of tailor-made new technologies for the company's plants in Myanmar and Vietnam, which are dedicated to converting post-consumer PET plastics into food-grade products. The solutions provided include Gardoclean® and Gardobond® additives for PET/polyolefin flotation and defoaming.

BASF collaborates with a circular plastic company to promote food-grade recycled rPET in Vietnam.

SK Chemicals' profits soar by 98.5%! Depolymerization technology empowers, turning chemical recycling into a "gold mine".

Amid a sustained downturn in South Korea's petrochemical industry due to a global economic slowdown and an oversupply of low-priced Chinese products, SK Chemicals' strong first-quarter performance surprised investors. In the first three months of this year, the company's operating profit surged 98.5% year-on-year to 36.9 billion Korean won (approximately 26.6 million U.S. dollars).

The main driving force behind this is SK Chemicals' green chemistry business, primarily its copolyester products. These products are widely used in cosmetic packaging, household goods, and electronics due to their transparency, chemical resistance, and ease of processing. Additionally, the company is developing new revenue streams from plastic recycling.

Coca-Cola Germany introduces Krones equipment twice to upgrade the recycled PET bottle production line.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Germany (CCEP DE, hereinafter referred to as "Coca-Cola Germany") is responsible for the production of soft drinks at several factories in Germany, supplying products to the domestic market.

Recently, at Coca-Cola's Bad Neuenahr factory in Germany, a 1-liter recycled PET bottle production line was once again thoroughly upgraded. This is the second time Krones has upgraded this production line.

PET bottle recycling production line

Filling 1-liter recycled PET bottle with soft drink

- Production capacity: 36,000 bottles per hour

- Scope of supply:

Updating and upgrading part of the production line equipment, including: Contipac depalletizer, Linajet crate washer, Rotomat bottle cap separator, various empty and full bottle inspection systems, Smartpac packer, and two Modulpal Pro 2A palletizing/depalletizing machines.

Processing equipment: Contiflow mixer and VarioClean CIP equipment

Indorama: The Journey of Recycling 150 Billion Plastic Bottles

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, recently announced that since February 2011, it has recycled over 150 billion post-consumer PET plastic bottles.

Indorama has more than 20 recycling facilities in 11 countries worldwide, some of which are partnerships. These plants can recycle or reprocess 789 bottles per second, converting waste PET into high-quality recycled PET (rPET) resin and other circular materials. These are widely used across various industries, helping the company and its clients achieve their sustainability goals.

Indorama's recycling process has shown a clear acceleration: in March 2020, the company reached the significant milestone of recycling 50 billion bottles; by 2023, this number had doubled to 100 billion; now, it has successfully reached a recycling volume of 150 billion.

11. New Developments in India's Food-Grade PET Recycling Industry: Mandatory Recycled Content Faces Risk of "Setback"

After experiencing several years of rapid development, India's recycled PET (rPET) industry is facing unprecedented challenges. According to the original plan, from April 1, 2025, India’s Plastic Waste Management Rules will mandate that rigid plastic packaging (such as beverage bottles) contain 30% recycled PET content. To support this goal, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) approved the use of rPET for food contact materials in March 2024, providing the industry with a critical compliance pathway.

However, a significant turning point occurred on June 3, 2024. A draft law released by India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) proposed allowing brands to "make up for unmet recycled content within three years." This amendment, once proposed, sparked a strong reaction. APR Bharat pointed out that this move sends a signal that the "ultimate goal will be weakened," leading brands to delay or even cancel rPET procurement plans.

The association stated that the Indian rPET industry had previously triggered large-scale investment due to the 30% content mandatory policy, with an estimated total amount of 750 to 800 billion rupees (approximately 800 million euros). The national production capacity is planned to reach 400,000 tons, of which 150,000 tons have been put into operation and certified by FSSAI, with another 150,000 tons pending approval. However, the reality is that the vast majority of factories are currently "far from operating at full capacity," and some have even halted production, with a wave of bankruptcies looming in the industry.

Eastman released its second-quarter financial report, with the methanol-recycled PET facility setting a new record, achieving 2.5 times the target capacity!

On August 4th, Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE: EMN) released its financial report for the second quarter of 2025. Cash generated from operating activities was $233 million, compared to $367 million in the same period last year. The company returned $145 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Available cash in 2025 will be prioritized for capital expenditures, paying quarterly dividends, reducing net debt, and share repurchases. The Kingsport methanolysis facility continues to operate steadily, and we are on track to achieve the goal of more than 2.5 times increase in recycled material production compared to 2024.

Soluble paper labels could address EPR regulatory challenges and become a new opportunity for PET circular economy.

In recent years, traditional paper labels have been regarded as a "pollutant" in the PET plastic recycling process, a consensus almost formed within the industry. However, as early as May 2024, the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) in the United States approved an innovative material developed by SmartSolve—a water-soluble pressure-sensitive label product (including 4PT direct thermal and 3PT thermal transfer types). This product successfully passed APR's most stringent recycling performance evaluation standards, overturning this established perception and providing a new sustainable solution for PET packaging.

14. Physical recycling is hard to cure the root cause, why can chemical recycling transform PET waste into high-value raw materials? The trillion-yuan market is set to explode under policy pressure.

PET, with its characteristics of being lightweight, transparent, impact-resistant, and having high gas barrier properties, continues to see growing demand in fields such as beverage bottles, packaging, and polyester fibers. The current global annual production has reached over 80 million tons. However, the management of PET waste is significantly lagging behind the pace of production, with over 70% of discarded PET not being effectively recycled. This has resulted in a large amount of post-consumer waste being disposed of through landfilling, incineration, or environmental leakage (especially into oceans/soil), causing persistent pollution that threatens ecosystem and food chain safety.

The major economies such as the European Union, China, and the United States have enacted legislation mandating the use of a certain proportion of recycled materials in plastic products. Major brands are also continuously innovating and strategically positioning themselves in the application of rPET, publicly setting ambitious recycling goals, including material substitution rates, closed-loop recycling timelines, and carbon reduction commitments.

15. From 70% Loss to 99% Purity: The Closed-Loop Industrial Pathway of PET Tray-to-Tray Recycling

Tray-to-tray (TtT) recycling is becoming an important pathway for driving the circularity of plastic packaging, especially for food-grade applications. Unlike bottle-to-bottle recycling, the PET tray stream has long been underestimated and underutilized.

Approximately 1 million tons of PET trays are placed on the EU market each year, but about 70% are lost, with only approximately 300,000 tons being collected for recycling, resulting in a significant circularity gap and environmental burden.

In the past, the recycled content in trays mostly came from bottle-grade recycled materials, raising concerns about the "diversion of bottle-grade closed-loop material sources."

Policy changes are underway. The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) have increased the recycled content ratio of beverage bottles and gradually extended the targets to "non-bottle" packaging, compelling the tray system to seek dedicated rPET material sources, thus providing momentum for the TtT model. (Information date: August 6, 2025)