PET Bottles-to-fashion, furniture, roads, tiles-- discarded PET bottles are making big news ever since PM Modi wore a sleeveless jacket to parliament

Hyderabad: Waste PET Bottles management is a menace. But you will be wondering to know and see what our PET Bottles can be recycled into.

HIPLEX 2023, India's 3rd biggest expo on plastics which is currently underway at HITEX, Madhapur set up an exclusive recycling booth, which is a must to visit and witness the unique display to know what wonders plastic recycling can do.

The booth was set up by TAAPMA-- Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Plastics Manufacturers Association, the organiser of the HIPLEX 2023 to promote Recycling.

The booth is located in Hal 2H at stall no 20A. HIPLEX in this expo has an exclusive recycling pavilion, where all recycling equipment, products and services are showcased.

The booth has put up a road (flex photo) laid by plastic waste. And it mentions Rajagopalan Vasudevan's solution to plastic pollution. He developed an innovative method to reuse plastic waste to construct better, more durable and very cost-effective roads. He thought up the idea of shredding plastic waste, mixing it with bitumen and using the polymerized mix in road construction.

The booth has a bench made from plastic waste. The bench has a sticker pasted on it "I am made from 100% Recycled Plastic"

It has another bench made by Shakthi Plastic Industries. It is made from post-consumer multilayer plastics. It also has a huge stall in the same pavilion. The Shakti Plastic Industries is a five-decade-old India's largest plastic recycler and waste management company. Its recycling capacity as of July 2023 extends to 10 lakh tonnes. It has six recycling plants across India and one in Dubai.

It says, without recycling, the garbage remains garbage.

The booth has a teapoy, tiles, T-Shirts, a Garden bench, and Centre Table all made from plastic waste.

Shakthi Plastic Industries displayed feel-good clothing made from PET Bottles, Tiles.

Econiture is another stall that is showcasing Eco-Furniture and it is called Econiture. The start-up was even featured in SharkTank Season 2 in Episode 14. Recycle Bell Private Limited is our company and under the brand name RE-BELL, we try to solve the problem of urban waste management by minimizing the amount of waste that’s being sent to the landfills and increasing the number of recyclables recovered from the waste. We focus on the dry component of the total waste, which constitutes 20-25% of the waste generated and is tough to manage said the Econiture representative.

Econiture furniture is made from 100% recycled plastic which diverts plastic waste that would have been destined for a landfill or ocean, he adds. This furniture has many benefits over wooden and metal furniture. It does not rust or rot and is completely waterproof. It is termite-proof and perfect for outdoors as well as indoors. It is long-lasting, durable, and strong. Most importantly, it will never ever go to a landfill since it is recyclable. Even after years of usage, it can again be converted into some new products," Madhur Rathi, CEO and Co-founder at Econiture said.

Econiture makes Furniture from Recycled Plastic and records over 2 Crore revenue a year. Econiture sells furniture including chairs, tables, stools, racks, and stands that are made up of recycled plastic. Some of them are on display at HIPLEX 2023 at Hitex, Madhapur.

We all read about news of Prime Minister Modi wearing a Nehru Jacket gifted to him by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) made using material recycled from plastic bottles. Indian Oil Corporation in HIPLEX displayed T-Shirts made out of plastic waste.

Another stall that attracted a lot of footfalls is 2H Pavilion is EcoLine Clothing. It claims to have around 200 SKUs. The company's jackets, t-shirts, athleisure wear etc are completely made of PET bottles while other products have blended organic cotton. Many visitors were seen buying particularly Modi Coats which were in huge demand.

EcoLine Clothing, a sustainable fashion company based out of Karur shot into fame and got recognition for its "bottle-to-garment" concept. It received instant fame after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent public appearance in a jacket made by the brand.

Certainly, the waste PET Bottles are making big news. Wish more and more such plastic waste is recycled and used as valuable products.