According to Angelo George, CEO of Bisleri International Pvt Ltd, a leading packaged drinking water company that has undertaken a project to upcycle PET bottles into apparel, shoes, and other products, upcycling PET bottles into apparel plays a critical role in advancing India’s circular economy objectives.
As the bottles are turned into high-value items, the practice of upcycling PET bottles reduces the quantity of plastic garbage that would otherwise gather in landfills and seas. Furthermore, upcycling has environmental advantages since it reduces the carbon footprint of traditional textile production, which normally uses a lot of energy, water, and raw materials, according to George in an exclusive interview with Fibre2Fashion.
In terms of the collection and processing of used PET bottles for recycling, George informed F2F, “We advocate a three-stage process: clean the used plastic, segregate it at the source, and send it directly to recycling.” We also offer to collect infrastructure to ensure that spent plastic is sent straight to recyclers rather than ending up in landfills. Bisleri’s ‘Bottles For Change’ campaign is currently running in seven cities, and we have reached over 600,000 individuals thus far.
“When PET waste is collected, it is sorted, cleaned, and treated to remove other materials such as caps, rings, or labels.” The bottles are washed with a mix of hot and cold water before being processed via a PET treatment system developed specifically for recycling.
Any uneven lumps or blocks of material are crushed to create flakes, which are subsequently dried, pigmented, extruded, and spun into threads. Depending on the ultimate product, these filaments are subsequently cooled, gathered, stretched, crimped, heat-treated, and cut into suitable lengths. For example, fibers are spun into yarn, threaded into bobbins, and sewn into fabric for clothing. It is then completed and, if required, colored. Finally, the cloth is sewn together to make various items such as T-shirts and backpacks.”
