Fibre from plastic waste

Raw Tech, a Bangladesh-Hong Kong joint venture, is set to invest Tk 50 crore to produce fibres from wasted plastic bottles with a view to grabbing a share of the market for polyester staple fibres currently dominated by Chinese firms.

The construction work for the factory spanning eight bighas of land at Bhaluka under Mymensingh district is on way, with production expected to start from December, according to Ridwan Haque, managing director of Raw Tech.

Of the Tk 50 crore invested in the venture, the partner from Hong Kong provided Tk 5.50 crore and Raw Tech took a loan of Tk 25 crore from Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund. The rest came from Haque.

Raw Tech has targeted to churn out 600 tonnes of plastic staple fibre in a month and log in Tk 60 crore in sales in a year.

“We will not face any shortage of raw materials as tonnes of plastic bottles are thrown away every day,” Haque said.

The company will have plastic bottle collection booths in different parts of the country.  Raw Tech is hoping to export the plastic fibres to China, India and Pakistan.

While cotton is the main raw material for producing fibres, of late some countries, especially China, are doing good business in polyester staple fibres that are made through recycling of wasted plastic goods.

So, Bangladesh has the opportunity to grab the global market, Haque said, while tipping more companies to follow his lead.“I hope our project will help solve the challenge of plastic disposal.”

Currently, only one company produces such fibre from plastic goods in Bangladesh.

Many companies in Bangladesh import such kind of fibres from other countries to make pillows, geo-textile, geo-bags padding, home textile and jackets, he said. So, local users can also be the customers of the Raw Tech product.

The factory, which will initially employ 100 workers, will be a green one, using rice husk and solar energy to power it, Haque said.