As India accelerates its transition towards a circular economy, plastic recycling is evolving from a conventional waste-management activity into a technology-driven manufacturing industry. With rising Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements, recycled-content mandates and growing demand from FMCG, beverage, packaging and other sectors, the focus is shifting towards producing consistent, specification-grade recycled polymers at scale. In this context, Lakshman K Iyer, Chief Executive Officer, Srichakra Polyplast, discusses the technologies, quality standards, automation and feedstock challenges shaping India’s recycled plastics industry, while outlining the opportunities for building a more self-reliant and sustainable circular manufacturing ecosystem.
Plastic recycling is often perceived as a waste-management activity. Do you believe it should instead be viewed as an advanced manufacturing business?
At scale, it is already an advanced manufacturing business in all but name. The input may be post-consumer waste, but the output is a specification-grade industrial raw material that has to perform consistently across manufacturing applications. That requires the same discipline around process control, quality, technology and repeatability that we associate with any advanced manufacturing operation.
The complexity starts with the feedstock itself. Post-consumer plastic can contain different polymers, colours, labels, metals, dirt and product residue. It has to undergo segregation, washing, decontamination, processing and quality checks before it can be converted back into resin suitable for manufacturing.
This becomes even more demanding in food-contact applications, where recyclers have to manage contamination at multiple stages and consistently produce material that meets stringent safety, quality and performance requirements. Advanced washing, decontamination, extrusion and quality-control systems therefore become central to the manufacturing process.
The shift the industry is making is therefore from waste processing to circular manufacturing. The next phase will be defined not by how much plastic a recycler can process, but by how consistently that material can be converted into application-grade polymers for packaging, FMCG and other manufacturing sectors.
India’s circular economy is evolving rapidly with EPR regulations and increasing recycled-content mandates. How has this transformed the business landscape for companies in the recycling sector?
The most significant change has been the transition from a largely supply-driven recycling market to a compliance-led ecosystem. Recycled polymers are increasingly becoming part of mainstream material planning rather than being procured only to meet voluntary sustainability commitments.
Earlier, demand was driven predominantly by large global brands. Today, regulation has created a much wider and more predictable market. For Category I rigid plastic packaging, recycled-content requirements are progressively increasing, moving from 30% to 40%, and subsequently towards 50% and 60% over the regulatory period.
This creates long-term demand visibility for recyclers, but it also raises the operating bar. Customers increasingly require recycled material that is consistent, traceable and compliant with defined performance and regulatory standards. Capacity alone is therefore no longer sufficient.
For organised recyclers, this means investing simultaneously in feedstock quality, advanced sorting and processing, documentation, traceability and process controls.
Another important shift is that recycling is becoming increasingly regional. Scrap has relatively low value compared with the cost of moving it long distances, so transporting post-consumer material across the country can quickly affect economics. Regional sourcing and processing networks will therefore become increasingly important as demand scales.
Producing food-grade recycled PET requires stringent quality standards. What technologies and quality-control systems enable recyclers to meet these requirements consistently?
Consistency in food-grade rPET has to be engineered across the entire recycling chain, from incoming feedstock through sorting, washing, decontamination, extrusion and final resin testing.
Post-consumer bottles are first segregated to remove unwanted polymers, colours, labels, metals and other physical contaminants before being shredded, washed, cleaned and dried into flakes. These flakes then undergo further processing and decontamination before being converted back into resin suitable for food-contact applications.
Food-grade bottle-to-bottle systems use advanced decontamination and SSP technology to enable recycled PET to meet stringent quality and safety requirements. Srichakra follows this approach through its commercial bottle-to-bottle recycling operations, which commenced in 2021 using EFSA- and US FDA-approved SSP technology, alongside advanced washing and decontamination systems. This is complemented by tighter segregation and sorting protocols, traceability mechanisms and quality-control benchmarks aligned with food-contact and brand-level requirements.
PET also has an advantage in closed-loop applications because, when properly segregated and processed, it can be brought back to performance characteristics close to virgin PET. This has allowed bottle-to-bottle recycling to become one of the most mature high-value plastic recycling applications.
How important are automation, traceability and digital monitoring in ensuring consistent quality across recycling operations?
Recycled plastic manufacturing begins with a raw material that is inherently variable, which is why automation, traceability and digital monitoring are becoming essential to maintaining consistent quality at scale.
Automation can improve sorting accuracy, process consistency and rejection control, while digital monitoring allows manufacturers to track critical parameters and identify deviations before they affect finished-product quality.
Traceability is equally important upstream because greater visibility into material origin, segregation and quality helps reduce uncertainty further down the processing chain. At Srichakra, this approach is also being extended upstream through technology-enabled pre-segregation and digital supplier-management systems aimed at improving visibility into feedstock quality, quantity and supplier consistency before material reaches the main recycling process.
For organised recyclers, the value of automation and traceability therefore goes beyond productivity. It is increasingly about delivering consistent, verifiable and specification-grade recycled material at scale.
What are the biggest technical challenges in converting post-consumer plastic into high-quality food-grade materials?
The constraint that matters most is feedstock quality. India has a strong collection ecosystem, but collection efficiency does not automatically translate into manufacturing-grade feedstock.
Material reaching recyclers can contain mixed polymers, colours, dirt, labels and residues. Poor segregation increases processing requirements, creates operational interruptions and reduces the quantity of material that can ultimately be recovered for higher-value applications.
This directly affects yield. One tonne of collected plastic does not translate into one tonne of usable food-grade resin. In PET recycling, previous industry estimates indicate that approximately 30% of incoming material may be lost through sorting and processing at the plant stage, although actual recovery varies substantially depending on contamination and the quality requirements of the intended application.
The second challenge is consistency. A food-grade resin customer expects every batch to meet defined quality parameters, while the input feedstock itself can vary substantially. That requires recyclers to control contamination, polymer mix and process conditions consistently rather than simply increasing throughput.
The industry’s biggest technical improvement opportunity therefore begins upstream. Better segregation at source, structured aggregation and pre-processing can improve recovery rates, reduce interruptions and make it easier to manufacture specification-grade resin consistently.
Demand for recycled polymers is growing across FMCG, beverages, beauty and packaging. What trends are you seeing from brand owners today?
The most visible shift is that recycled content is moving from selective sustainability programmes into regular material procurement. Brand owners are increasingly planning recycled polymers as part of their mainstream packaging portfolios, supported by both regulatory requirements and internal sustainability commitments.
Beverages remain one of the strongest demand drivers for food-grade rPET because bottle-to-bottle recycling is commercially established. India’s beverage and water segment consumes an estimated 1.4–1.5 million tonnes of PET annually, creating a sizeable structural market for rPET as recycled-content requirements increase.
Personal care and home care are also becoming important growth areas for recycled HDPE and polypropylene. Depending on the application and performance requirements, brands are already using recycled-content blends of approximately 30–50% in certain packaging formats.
Customer expectations are also becoming more stringent. The question is no longer simply whether recycled material can be used in an application, but whether it can perform consistently across batches while meeting traceability and compliance requirements. In many applications, recycled polymers are increasingly being evaluated with the same discipline as virgin materials.
Over the next phase, PP and HDPE should see stronger adoption across rigid packaging, while automotive, appliances and other durable applications are likely to become larger opportunities as specification-grade recycled material and closed-loop models develop.
India still imports significant quantities of recycled materials. How can domestic manufacturers strengthen India’s self-reliance in this sector?
India has a strong foundation for building greater self-reliance in recycled plastics because the country already has an extensive domestic collection ecosystem. The larger challenge is converting that collected waste into consistent, high-quality feedstock for organised recycling.
The first requirement is better segregation. Poorly sorted material increases rejection rates, raises processing costs and reduces the amount of recycled resin that can be recovered from each tonne of waste.
The second requirement is regional processing capacity. Scrap is expensive to transport relative to its value, and moving material over long distances adds cost before processing even begins. Developing decentralised recycling infrastructure closer to waste-generation and consumption centres can therefore improve both feedstock security and manufacturing economics.
“Srichakra’s regional operating model is built around proximity to key supplier and customer clusters, helping reduce long-distance scrap movement while strengthening feedstock security and improving processing economics.
Formalisation of the collection ecosystem is equally important. Direct engagement with waste pickers, aggregators, balers and municipalities can improve feedstock quality while creating greater transparency and traceability.
The opportunity is to treat post-consumer plastic as a domestic raw-material resource rather than simply as waste. Better segregation, stronger formal collection networks and investment in advanced recycling technology can allow a greater proportion of material generated within India to return to manufacturing as high-value recycled polymers.
How can manufacturing companies create more inclusive workplaces while addressing the industry’s growing demand for skilled talent?
Manufacturing companies need to broaden the way they think about employability. The industry cannot depend entirely on workers arriving with previous factory experience. Many manufacturing skills can be developed through structured vocational training.
A good programme should give employees an understanding of the overall manufacturing environment rather than training them to perform one repetitive activity. This can include workplace safety, quality systems, machine operations, documentation, material handling, supply-chain basics, 5S, Kaizen, communication and workplace coordination.
Recent industry training programmes have demonstrated that people with very different educational and professional backgrounds can be prepared for manufacturing roles through structured training. One such programme covered 55 individual modules, ranging from quality and safety to supply-chain management, 5S and interpersonal skills.
This approach also creates an opportunity to bring more women, particularly from rural and semi-urban areas, into formal manufacturing. The focus should be on building transferable skills that make workers employable across manufacturing environments rather than training them only for one narrow job.
Inclusive hiring therefore does not need to be separate from the talent strategy. Done properly, it can become part of the solution to the industry’s growing requirement for skilled manpower.
Looking ahead five years, what do you envision for India’s recycled plastics industry?
The next five years should see recycled plastics becoming much more integrated into India’s mainstream manufacturing economy. Regulation will be an important driver, but the larger transition will be from recycling as a waste-management activity to recycling as a dependable source of industrial raw material.
PET will continue to lead this transition. India’s beverage and packaged-water sector alone consumes an estimated 1.4-1.5 million tonnes of PET annually. Current industry utilisation of rPET is estimated at around 300,000-320,000 tonnes, and demand for rPET alone could reach approximately 600,000 tonnes within the next three years as recycled-content requirements increase and the beverage and water segment continues to grow.
The opportunity will also expand beyond PET. HDPE and polypropylene should see stronger adoption across personal care, home care and other FMCG packaging, while automotive, appliances and other durable applications can become important markets as closed-loop recycling systems develop. The overall plastic recycling opportunity in India has been estimated at approximately USD 6 billion, indicating the scale that can emerge as formal recycling capacity and applications expand.
The next major shift will have to happen upstream. India has a strong collection ecosystem, but inconsistent segregation and feedstock quality continue to limit yields and manufacturing efficiency. Greater formalisation, regional processing infrastructure, traceability and technology-led sorting will therefore be critical.
Over the next five years, the industry should increasingly be measured not simply by how much plastic waste it collects, but by how much of that material can be converted into high-quality raw material and retained within productive manufacturing cycles.