Eco Spindles, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPPL Holdings Ltd (BPPL), recently inaugurated Sri Lanka’s first ever polyester yarn plant at Horana Export Processing Zone with an investment of SLR 800 million. The unit, with spinning and texturing machinery from Europe, will manufacture polyester yarn from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle flakes.
The plant is one of two plants in the world that create yarn directly from flakes circumventing the polymerization where flakes are first converted to chips and then to yarn, according to BPPL CEO and managing director Anush Amarasinghe. BPPL is also planning to invest SLR 1-1.5 billion in another yarn production plant at the same premises to expand production, a leading Sri Lankan newspaper quoted Amarasinghe as saying.
Meanwhile, BPPL expects to double the used PET bottle collection to 400 tonnes per month within the next 12 months. He noted that 70 tonnes of recycled PET waste will be utilised for manufacturing synthetic yarn while around 150 tonnes of PET waste for the production of synthetic brush filaments. The new plant can produce 15 percent of the polyester yarn required by the local apparel industry and can also produce recycled yarn, which is considered a niche segment with a good growth potential.