A recognised name in the textile industry, Alliance Fibres Limited was established in 2006 as India’s third PET Recycling Plant for manufacturing Polyester Staple Fibres (PSF) made out of post-consumer pet bottles. “We are the first company in INDIA to certify with OBP Certification for the ocean recycled polyester products. The OBP Certification Program is developed by the NGO Zero Plastic Oceans in collaboration with the certification group Control Union to protect oceans from the continuous leakage of Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP) from land-based activities,” says Shri.ChhaganbhaiSangani, Chairman and Managing Director of Alliance Fibres Ltd.
GREENFILÒ is the official sustainable brand of Alliance Fibres Limited. It symbolises the product which is made by ethical recycling of post-consumer PET bottles which are damaging the nature and earth eco-system by polluting to the land, rivers and oceans. “We collect such bottles with the help of waste management supply chain partners and converting these waste into the wearable green textile products. The way of converting waste into the sustainable products defines as GREENFIL WAY,” says Mr.Kuldeep Sangani, Director (Sales – Domestic & Exports), who is the 2ndgeneration in the business.
The GREENFILÒ Products Range includes Recycled PET Bottle Flakes, Recycled Polyester Staple fibres, Recycled Polyester Filament Yarns (POY / DTY / FDY), Recycled PET Ropes and Recycled Polyester Fabrics (Knitted / Woven). The company plans to launch projects ofRecycled PET Chips for Textile Grade & Food Grade.
Mr. Kuldeep Sangani spoke to the Textile Value Chain, Excerpts:
Please tell us about the beginning of this recycling business and also the developments?
After visiting a booth in an exhibition held in Singapore in 2004, and seeing waste PET bottles along with PET Flakes and recycled PSF (Polyester Staple Fibres) lying side by side with each other, my father was excited to understand the process and wondered as to how this is possible. This excitement became a vision to jump into this industry in the Indian market after seeing running plants in China in the same year. Coming from textile background, he easily understood the product and its scope in the Indian market, talked with business friends about this project whether is it good idea to setup this industry in India or not as finance was the main constraint during that time. Though managed the finance from relatives and partners, decided to install India’s third plant of recycled PSF with a capacity of 20 MT/Day, Named Alliance Fibres Ltd in June 2006. His vision was converted from idea to execution just in 3 years.
He started his career with technician for draw texturized machine with Himson group. Then he started one servicing company for the AMC of the DTY machines and acquired huge a long list of clienteles from the industry. In 1998, started own industry with one DTY machine and then installed Yarn dying unit at KIM (Surat) and then expanded business in Alliance Fibres Ltd.
In 2011, installed India’s first mechanical recycled filament yarn (POY/DTY) plant with 20 MT/Day capacity. Parallelly, we expanded capacity of the PSF unit to 50 MT/day. We have introduced world’s first Recycled PET Ropes in 2015 with 2MT/day capacity. In 2019 again POY plant capacity was expanded to 30 MT/day. Currently we are coming up with the latesttechnology in Recycled filament for better evenness and barre free properties for dyeing guaranteed recycled yarn. Our total PET bottle recycling capacity will become 150 MT/day by April, 2022.
Currently we are recycling about 200 MT of PET waste to make recycled PSF, POY/DTY/FDY& Ropes. We are having following certificates:Oeko-Tex,GRS (Global Recycled Standard), Guinness world record — for participating in making world’s largest T-shirt from recycled yarns, ISO 9001:2015, BIS – 11066: 2014, and OBP (Ocean Bound Plastic) Certificate –The. World’s first certificate for recycled PSF, Yarns, Ropes& Fabrics.
What are the machines you use for producing polyester staple fibres, filament yarns, and ropes by sustainable way for making our earth alive? And from where do you source that machinery?
Our PSF plant and POY plant technologies are from China, rope plant is a combination of Chinese and Indian technologies. We have also installed many European-make auxiliaries technology for the better quality of finished product. We have in-house R&D &Maintenance teams for continuous improvements and better productivity in the process and products and machinery modifications.
How did you manage your business in the pandemic – 2020?
During the pandemic, we could well manage our staff and employees by providing them foods and safe stays. Our plant closed for only 10 days during lockdown. Just after that we got orders from various companies making fabrics for govt. medical supplies. Also, we got good orders for anti-microbial fibres and filaments during the COVID pandemic.
What are the changes that you saw in the year 2021 after some relaxations from the pandemic?
ThePandemictaught us so many lessons. There is a huge difference between pre-Covid and post-Covid lifestyles. Businesses revived with increased demand in textiles. Lots of expansion has been announced in the industry. During the pandemic, we have also modified our machineries for better quality and higher productivity. Just after thepandemic, we got good market demands due to improvement in quality of product than other players in the market.
Please brief us about the efforts of the Research and Development Department?
We have a dedicated R&D division with the vision of developing new conceptual yarns, fibres, ropes & fabric. Though our products are very basic, we are focusing on the technical parameters of the recycled fibres/yarns/fabrics by maintaining high quality raw material inputs (PET Flakes), and so the melt characteristics. As we are working with many brands like IKEA, Inditex, H&M, C&A, Decathlon, Wallmart, Home Depot, etc., directly or indirectly, we are getting challenging developments from them and our R&D team working hard to achieve the desiredproducts. We have our dedicated director team – Mr. V.B. Shah, Mr. Jignesh Patel, Mr. Ashwin Patel, , Mr. Bharat Koradiya, Mr. Satish Koradiya, Mr. Ronak Kachhadiya, , Mr. Prakash Patel, Mr. ChandreshVasani and Mr. Piyush Patel, are well managing and heading all different company operations for continuous development in the products and processes to achieve success in PET recycling Industry. We are expecting 250+ crores of Sales Turnover during current financial year 2021-22. We have vision to achieve 500+ crores of sales turnover by 2025 by enhancing capacities and value addition in the existing product ranges.
How do you see the future of your Industry, in 2022 & beyond?
Recycling is the future whether it is of plastics or of any other products. Without recycling, mother earth will not last for a long. Sustainability has become the buzzword in the world now-a-days. Many things are yet to achieve in the recycled PET Industry. New technologies are coming up every day to get virgin like look, feel, lustre, workability and efficiency. Textile field will always remain “baby” in a sense of industrial lifecycle. Everyday new concepts are coming up in the industry. Before a decade or two, textile meant for only clothes, and now textile has many strong branches such as Home-Textiles, Technical-Textiles, Geo-Textiles, Automotive-Textiles, Nano-Textiles, Medical-Textiles, Aero-Textiles, etc. There are no doubts that many more branches of textiles are yet to born especially considering sustainability.
What is your message for the startups in this industry?
Textile is a big industry and being in the industry, make a vision to be the best in the quality supply and customer service. Do innovations through continuous improvements. Be passionate and committed to achieve your dream vision. Invest more and more in R&D and people for the best outcome for the industry and for yourself as well. Recycling textiles has many more doorsteps to achieve, grab it otherwise someone else will grab. Please contact us at [email protected] or visit our website www.alliancefibres.com for any inquiries related to PET recycled products.
