India's Ester Industries Ltd. and Canada's Loop Industries have formed a joint venture, "Ester Loop Infinite Technologies" (ELiTe), planning to invest over 10 billion Indian rupees (approximately RMB 860 million) to build India's first large-scale textile-to-textile chemical recycling facility in Gujarat. The facility is expected to commence production in 2028 with an initial annual capacity of 70,000 tons, aiming to depolymerize contaminated and blended polyester waste textiles into virgin-grade polyester feedstock, achieving infinite loop recycling without quality degradation.

Ester Industries was founded in 1985 by Arvind Singhania and currently operates plants in Uttarakhand and Hyderabad, specializing in packaging films, recycled polyester, and specialty polyester. Toyo Engineering will be responsible for detailed engineering design of the new project, with approximately 90% equipment localization rate, which can reduce capital costs.

On the technology front, Loop's process can handle colored fabrics, polyester-cotton blends, laminated packaging, and other real-world waste textiles without requiring pure PET bottle flakes, and the process is mild with lower operating costs. The products can be used for fibers, bottles, packaging films, and more. The project initially focuses on textile-to-textile recycling to align with global regulatory trends—such as the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which requires textiles to contain minimum recycled content and favors recycled materials sourced from textiles rather than beverage bottles.

On the market side, global brands such as Nike have already expressed procurement interest, with demand clearly driven by European and American environmental regulations. India generates approximately 7.2 million tons of waste textiles annually, of which polyester accounts for about 700,000 to 800,000 tons, providing ample feedstock for the project. Ester CEO Vaibhav Jha noted that traditional mechanical recycling causes polymer degradation with each cycle, while the new process can restore to virgin quality, achieving infinite lifespan. Jha's vision is to make India a global hub for circular manufacturing. The company will also develop specialty polyester additives such as flame-retardant and stain-resistant variants, as well as easily recyclable mono-material polyester carpets.

If successful, the project will validate the economic feasibility of chemical recycling, provide brands with compliant, high-quality recycled materials, and drive value upgrading of old clothing recycling in the industrial chain.

Source: Ester Industries Charts a New Course for Textile Circularity with Groundbreaking Loop Industries Joint Venture - The Textile Magazine · Originally published on 2026-08-31