Assessing the Environmental Footprint of Recycled PET Bottles for JB rPET

JB rPET, a Gujarat-based company, recycles waste PET bottles into PET flakes and PET chips. The collected waste PET bottles undergo washing, crushing and breaking to produce PET flakes, which are then further processed to form PET chips. JB rPET partnered with Monk Spaces to quantify the environmental impacts through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This assessment followed stringent standards such as ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.

The assessment followed the requirements of PCR 2010:16 – ‘Plastics in Primary Forms‘ defines the mandated stages of the life cycle modules (upstream and core processes) defined by the International EPD System. The upstream processes include collecting raw materials like waste PET bottles, PET flakes, and other ancillary materials. The upstream processes also cover the transportation of materials to the manufacturing unit and the packaging of finished products. Since the significant raw material (PET bottles) is post-consumer waste, they were available burden-free for quantification of environmental impacts. Core processes include energy and water consumption during production activities, as well as end-of-life treatment. The PCR specified the requirements of impact indicators to be included, such as global warming potential (GWP-Total), acidification potential (AP), and many others.

Once the requirements were defined, a detailed input sheet was developed for the manufacturer’s convenience. The sheet collected details on plastics procurement, the manufacturing process, electricity and water consumption, solvents added, additives used in the core auxiliary process (ETP), packaging and waste generation. The functional unit chosen for the LCA study is 1 kg, excluding the packaging. The LCA results are quantified using the secondary data from the Ecoinvent database across core categories, additional impact indicators, natural resources, wastes and output flows. The estimated results were documented as an LCA report. The LCA report provided a detailed explanation of impact quantification.

The quantified results were analysed to determine the plant’s performance under current conditions. The most significant contributors to the life cycle stages were analysed for the products. Additionally, scenarios were developed to analyse projected results when the plant operates at full capacity and when textile waste is used as a raw material. Based on the analyses, recommendations were provided by evaluating the decarbonisation strategies for the products across different scenarios.

The assessment concluded with checks on completeness, consistency and sensitivity. The assessment helped JB rPET to identify key environmental impacts and provided insights to improve its operations.