RECYKAL TIMESIntelligence for the circular economyArchive search
Beverage makers are switching some products to PET bottles as aluminium can supplies tighten. Recykal Times’ internal price intelligence shows that bottle bale prices vary by state, while demand for new packaging does not automatically raise demand for recycled material.
On 15 October 2026, the country's largest PET recycler cleared its fourth food-grade recycled-PET line, part of a wave of capacity built to meet the rule that food and drink brands must use 40% recycled plastic in 2026-27. India now has about 17 FSSAI-approved food-grade rPET plants with roughly 3 lakh tonnes a year of capacity, heading towards an estimated 7.5 lakh tonnes by March 2027. But a food-grade plant cannot run on just any bottle. It needs clean, clear, well-sorted PET, and that is exactly the material the collection chain is worst at supplying. The bottleneck is no longer plants. It is feedstock.
Recorded ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is still a small fraction of what it was before the Iran war began on 28 February 2026. On 6 October 2026, only seven commodity vessels crossed, the fewest since 23 July, and attacks on tankers hit their highest weekly level of the war. In India the effects came in waves. Plastic raw material prices rose by half or more within weeks. The government waived import duty and then let the waiver lapse. Small plastic factories shut lines, and recycled plastic became more competitive on price. Recyclers say the gain is uneven, because brands are slow to buy and clean PET bottles are hard to find. This is how the story has run so far, and what it means for people who collect, sort and recycle.
Reliance and IVL Dhunseri raised virgin PET prices by ₹2 a kg from 24 September 2026, with Brent crude above $100 a barrel. It lands at the halfway mark of the first year in which rigid plastic packaging must carry 40% recycled content. In May 2026, recyclers said a fifth or more of their food-grade capacity was idle, while an industry body representing beverage makers says supply falls short. Dearer virgin resin weakens the cost case for waiting and gives more bargaining power to whoever holds clean PET bottles.
A big plastics show in Hyderabad could change how your plastic scrap is used and valued.