Largest PET recycling plant in the Philippines

The Board of Investments (BOI) in the Philippines has approved the Php2.3 billion (about US$47.9 million) PETValue recycling facility project of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. (CCBPI) and Indorama Ventures Packaging Corp. (Indorama Ventures). 

Ms. Lanie Dormiendo, officer-in-charge and director for International Investment Promotions Service at the BOI, said the recycling plant was granted pioneer status as it involves the use a proprietary and state-of-the-art eight-step recycling process that would transform used polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles back to food-grade recycled PET resin.  According to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, the PETValue project was endorsed for approval by the Department of Science and Technology.  Projects approved by the BOI can enjoy incentives including income tax holidays.

In March 2020, CCBPI - the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in the Philippines - and Thailand-headquartered Indorama Ventures signed a joint-venture agreement to establish PETValue, the largest state-of-the-art, bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in the Philippines. The next-generation facility will be established in General Trias, province of Cavite, and is expected to be completed in 2021. PETValue will help ensure that used PET plastic bottles—packaging that is 100% recyclable, and therefore not “single-use”—will be given new life and function as they are collected, processed, and used again and again within a circular economy.

PETValue’s projected capacity, or the amount of used plastic bottles it can process, is 30,000 MT/year or almost 2 billion pieces of plastic bottles, with an output of 16,000 MT/year of recycled PET resin.

Indorama Ventures’ global footprint spans over 70 manufacturing sites in over 30 countries and employs over 24,000 people worldwide. From its inception in 1975, Indorama Ventures has developed numerous business segments, subsequently becoming the largest producer of polyester products and polyester feedstocks. It has also since established its global leadership in PET plastic manufacturing and recycling. And through this partnership with Coca-Cola, the biggest beverage brand in the world, Indorama Ventures will be bringing their expertise as a global integrated leader in recycling to the Philippines.

Coca-Cola’s World Without Waste goal is the company’s commitment to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle and can it sells by 2030. The PETValue facility will be yet another concretization of Coca-Cola’s comprehensive sustainability blueprint, one that creates positive inroads towards a circular economy.