· Rumtoo Engineering Team · Project Guide · 2 min read
PET Bottle Recycling Line: How to Plan a Project from 0 to 1
A practical framework for selecting capacity, process stages, and utilities before investing in a PET bottle washing line.
Starting a PET bottle recycling plant is mostly an engineering decision, not a machine shopping decision.
Most projects fail early for three reasons:
- feedstock quality is not evaluated before equipment selection
- capacity targets are set by sales assumptions instead of operating constraints
- utility requirements (water, power, drainage) are confirmed too late
1. Define your target output first
Before discussing line configuration, define what you need to sell:
- hot-washed flakes for fiber grade
- cleaner flakes for sheet or bottle-to-bottle pre-processing
- washed material for downstream pelletizing
Output target determines your washing intensity, sorting requirements, and filtration levels.
2. Map feedstock variability
Ask suppliers for seasonal samples, not only one batch.
Evaluate:
- PVC/metal contamination
- moisture and sludge ratio
- label and glue type
- color mix distribution
A line optimized for clean post-industrial PET is very different from a line handling mixed post-consumer bales.
3. Choose realistic throughput
Nominal line capacity is not the same as stable daily capacity.
Plan based on:
- effective operating hours
- planned maintenance windows
- contamination-driven slowdowns
- operator skill level
If your business plan needs 2,000 kg/h net output, your process design should include a safety margin.
4. Confirm utility envelope early
For many projects, utilities become the hidden bottleneck.
Confirm at feasibility stage:
- installed power capacity
- water supply and recycling loop
- wastewater treatment route
- compressed air availability
- workshop footprint and floor drainage
5. Lock project milestones
A strong recycling line project should have five technical milestones:
- feedstock and output specification freeze
- process flow + layout confirmation
- manufacturing and pre-delivery checks
- commissioning and parameter tuning
- stable production acceptance
Conclusion
If you build the project around process logic, equipment selection becomes clear. If you start from a machine list only, commissioning risk rises sharply.
Rumtoo usually starts with material analysis and target-output alignment, then proposes line architecture accordingly. This reduces rework and shortens startup time.
