Starlinger: Ismail Resin commissions PET bottle recycling plant for 40,000 tonnes of waste per year

Ismail Resin, a company of Pakistan’s Ismail Industries, has commissioned a new bottle-to-bottle recycling plant from Starlinger in Karachi. The “recoSTAR PET 215 art” facility processes post-consumer PET bottles into food-grade recycled material and is intended to strengthen the circular economy for plastic packaging in Pakistan.

The recycling plant began operations in March 2026 at the Port Qasim site in Karachi. With a production capacity of up to 3,000 kilograms of rPET per hour, it can produce more than 24,000 tonnes of food-grade recycled PET annually. The facility primarily processes used PET bottles collected from the metropolitan areas of Karachi and Hyderabad.

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According to the company, the project enables the recycling of around 40,000 tonnes of PET bottle waste per year. At the same time, it is expected to expand Pakistan’s existing collection and recycling network. Pakistan’s recycling industry currently relies heavily on an informal sector consisting of waste pickers, collection centers, and recycling companies, which plays a key role in achieving high collection and recovery rates.

With this investment, Ismail Resin is expanding its business activities into PET bottle-to-bottle recycling. The company already produces PET resin and is pursuing the development of sustainable packaging solutions. Deliveries of food-grade rPET are expected to begin once the ongoing certification and approval processes have been completed. Certifications according to FSSC, Halal, ISO 9001, and ISO 14001 standards have already been obtained. Certifications for ISO 45001, Sedex, and EU compliance are still in progress.

The company plans to supply packaging and beverage manufacturers with food-grade rPET for applications such as water bottles and packaging for carbonated soft drinks. The material is intended for both the Pakistani market and export markets.

According to the company, growing demand for recycled materials is being driven primarily by the sustainability targets of international and local brand owners, as well as export requirements. In addition, requirements for the use of recycled content in plastic packaging are increasing. Regulatory incentives for recycling are still under development in Pakistan, according to the company.

Ismail Resin was founded in 2023 and is part of Ismail Industries Limited, a diversified industrial group with activities in sectors including food, packaging, PET resin, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, and financial services. Through its entry into rPET production, the company aims to expand Pakistan’s recycling infrastructure and promote the circular economy in the country.

More information: www.starlinger.com, www.ismailresin.com.pk

Starlinger & Co Gesellschaft m.b.H., Wien, Österreich

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