The Aerofibre Legacy

Ankit Jain • August 3, 2020

India is one of the rare countries, where the estimated bottle collection is in the range of 80-90%.

AeroFibre’s Legacy:

We are proud to say that we are third generation into the plastic waste business. In the late 80s, my grandfather started in the recycling and processing of PET industrial waste. In 2008, my father commissioned the fibre recycling plant to further process the industrial waste. After completing my graduation in UIUC, I decided to join the family business in 2009. I was excited about the recycling of polyester waste and elected to head this business. In 2017, we commissioned a state-of-the-art recycling plant that has the capacity to process 18,000 M.T.A. of hollow and hollow conjugate fibre.

 

We are the first company in India to have 2 German bottle sorters in our wash-line. Our main focus was to enhance the quality of flakes which will result in higher fibre quality.

 

In 2021, we realised that there was an increasing demand for high quality flakes for bottle to bottle and bottle to filament segments; and there was a paucity of good quality PET flakes in the market. To fill this gap, we have installed an advanced laser sorting machine from Germany to process flakes which are as clean and consistent as diamonds – hence our brand DiamondPET Flakes!


Our DiamondPET flakes provide a consistent high total purity value of less than 100 ppm. We create this with the help of dual automatic bottle sorters, manual sorting as well as a final check with an automatic laser sorter. Just like high pressure makes diamonds, we employ heat washing and pressure sorting to make diamonds out of trash.

 

Our team

We have a team that is 150 strong today who work on 3 shifts to produce PET flakes that are of precise and consistent quality. We have installed an effluent treatment plant to reuse and recycle all our water used in the PET flake production. Our plant qualifies as a zero liquid discharge site. We also generate a portion of power needs via Solar power.


The future

Our goal is to produce high value products from plastic waste. To that end we want to process as much of the by-products generated while processing the PET bottles – from segregating caps and wrapper, we now wash and produce granules that can be made into injection moulded products like crates and other items.


Conclusion:

At AeroFibre, we want to produce the best value for our customers, treat our team as family and give back to the communities that we are a part of. We believe in doing well by doing good. Hopefully, one day in the near future, we will be part of the reason India will be able to recycle 100% of plastic waste, creating value from waste.


Article published in the PET Planet Insider magazine, October 2021 edition.

Exploring RPET Sheets - The Sustainable Plastic Packaging Solution

Exploring RPET Sheets - The Sustainable Plastic Packaging Solution

February 21, 2024
As circular economies and sustainability gain momentum globally, recycled PET (rPET) has emerged as an eco-friendly packaging alternative minimizing plastic waste. But what exactly are RPET sheets? Let's explore why this versatile material promises durability alongside circular benefits. What is PET plastic? PET or polyethylene terephthalate plastic is commonly extracted from crude oil for making plastic bottles, containers, fibers etc, given its strength, transparency, processability and non-toxic properties. However, PET'S durability also makes waste management challenging with 500+ years for decomposition. Fortunately, PET is 100% recyclable. With nearly 30% global PET usage in water bottles, classification and recycling is possible for giving used PET renewed life. This is where RPET steps in. What are RPET Sheets? RPET or recycled PET sheets are made by reforming post-consumer, used PET into durable plastic sheets ideal for packaging applications. With up to 100% PCR content, RPET sheets skip oil refinement, saving significant carbon emissions. RPET sheets retain innate PET properties like high strength, flexibility, transparency and barriers while eliminating virgin plastic dependency. The remanufacturing process with automated sorting even removes over 30ppm impurities for compliance. Benefits of RPET Plastic Sheets: 🔹 Circular material flows reducing oil usage, waste and carbon footprint 🔹 USFDA approved food-contact compliant production for safety 🔹 Custom fabrication possible for tailored packaging solutions 🔹 High transparency showing off product aesthetics 🔹 Excellent oxygen and moisture stability Applications of RPET Sheets: The sustainable and high-performing properties of RPET plastic sheets make them ideal for food, medical, consumer goods and industrial packaging. Some applications include: ▫️ Thermoformed trays/clamshells, boxes & disposable containers ▫️ Medical device pouches & pharmaceutical cartons ▫️ Household product, toy & electronic accessories packaging ▫️ Printed blisters, clamshells and disposable plates/cups Durable, transparent and ethically produced - RPET sheets check all boxes as the packaging material of the future. A small step today towards recycled plastics can empower circular supply chains for generations. The Recycled PET sheets from Aerofibre are made from post-consumer PET bottles which undergo a thorough cleaning, sorting & shredding process. These are then transformed into high quality sheets. We are proud to be part of the solution to the global plastic waste problem and look forward to continuing to innovate and offer sustainable products to our customers. Contact us to know more.
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