Petcore + EuPR: PET collection figures for 2011 published - European PET bottle collection rate increases to 51%

PPetcore and EuPR recently announced that European post-sorting PET collection reached 1.59 Million tonnes in 2011, an increase of 140 Ktes (9.4%) on 2010. For the EU 27 countries growth in collection is stable at 2%. The overall collection rate in 2011 was a record 51% of all PET bottles in the market. Net exports of PET bales to the Far East Fell for the third year running.

All but 3 of the surveyed countries have a collection rate above the 22.5% target rate for plastic recovery set by the Packaging Waste Directive. The collection rate by country depends on the maturity and extent of their collection systems as well as economic instruments in place. Collection rates of over 70% are being recorded by about a third of the countries surveyed.

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It was estimated that there is a total mechanical reclamation capacity in the EU27+4 of around 1.9 Million tonnes, so PET recyclers have capacity available to absorb a large increase in PET collection.

More than 50% of the resulting rPET was used to produce containers or sheet for new packaging applications in 2011. The 2011 share of fibres as an end use for recycled PET flake remained at 39%. The strapping market for rPET increased slightly to just over 100 Ktes.

Petcore (PET containers recycling Europe) is a non-profit European trade association based in Brussels. Its mission focuses on sustainable growth for post consumer PET collection whilst supporting all PET recycling processes as a key integrated part of European Plastics Waste Management initiatives and by validating and supporting innovative PET solutions from a recycle perspective.

More information: www.petcore.org, www.eupr.org

Petcore, Brussels, Belgium