European PET bottle collection rises 11%
By Charlotte Eyre

Posted 28 October 2009 9:34 am GMT
PET bottle collection reached 1.26m tonnes across Europe in 2008, up 11% from 2007 levels, according to a new report from trade organisation Petcore.

During the year some 46% of all PET bottles in the market were collected for recycling, up 5% from 17% the year before, says the report.


“I am very pleased with the high rate of PET recycling in Europe in spite of the economic downturn,” says Roberto Bertaggia, chairman of the Petcore board. “Recycled PET has become a reliable and sought-after feedstock in the PET value chain.”


Of the bales of recycled PET collected in Europe, 75% was usable PET, says the report. The remainder consisted of caps, labels, residues and other contamination, for example foreign materials.


The sheet market tonnage fell slightly to 22% but blowmoulding continued to grow, with more than 20% of recycled PET going to this market. The tonnage used in strapping in 2008 increased to comprise more than 11% of the total flake.


Bertaggia says PET recycling will continue to grow across Europe, meaning PET will be the most important packaging polymer in contributing to achieving plastics targets in the Waste Framework Directive. This directive stipulates that there should be 50% of plastics from household streams in Europe should be recycled or reused by 2020.


Petcore will therefore ensure that growth in PET recycling continues so that it “remains an important mainstay in meeting this future legislation”, he adds.