New Delhi: Would you believe it if someone says your cloth is made by recycling pet bottles? But yes, now it is true, it has been possible with the technique adopted by Indian Oil Corporation Limited. The process of making fabric from discarded bottles involves washing, drying, and crushing collected PET bottles into small chips. The chips are then heated and passed through a spinning process to form polyester staple fiber which is given a fluffy, woolly texture in a crimping machine. This polyester staple fiber is then spun to produce yarn which is further knitted or woven into polyester fabric.
IndianOil believes that along with spearheading the Energy Revolution for India, the offer of an energy mix needs to be aligned with the country’s Net Zero target. In tandem with the country’s priority to promote a green energy mix to drive economic development, IndianOil has committed to becoming Net Zero Company by 2046 for its operational emissions. IndianOil recognizes recycling as a part of the solution to achieve the goal of sustainability and has adopted discarded PET bottle recycling to fabric, as a step towards it.
In addition to adopting Customer attendants and LPG delivery boys’ uniforms; IndianOil is taking this initiative further through ‘Unbottled’ – a brand for sustainable garments, launched for merchandise made from recycled polyester. Under this brand, IndianOil targets to meet the requirement of uniforms for the customer attendants of other Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), Non-Combat Uniforms for the Army, Uniforms/ Dresses for Institutions & Sales to Retail Customers. With the present initiative, IndianOil targets to support the recycling of 100 million PET bottles per year.
The use of recycled polyester obtained from the recycling of discarded PET bottles shall support the rising demand for textiles in India apart from reducing the import burden of its fossil feedstock. PET recycling has a significant ‘positive’ environmental impact as it requires around 59% less energy for production compared to virgin PET (made from fossil sources) and has around 79% lower carbon footprint.
This is an expeditious step to clean the environment. More Oil & Gas Companies need to follow the foot steps of IndianOil to make this world a better place to live in.