NORTH AMERICA – The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), the trade association representing the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) industry in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, recently released its PET Recycling Report for the fiscal year 2022.
The report revealed a slight decline in the PET recycling rate in North America, dropping to 37.8% in 2023 compared to 38.4% in 2021.
Similarly, the recycling rate of PET in the US decreased to 29% during the year, down from 30.3% in the previous year.
NAPCOR’s data also indicated that the market consumption of recycled PET (rPET) bottles surpassed 50% in both the US and Canada in 2022. Notably, in the US, there was a 15% increase in recycled content used in bottles.
According to the report’s findings, PET recyclers in the US would need to collect 1.75 billion pounds of PET—an 85% increase from 2022—to meet the rPET content goal. The US is aiming for 25% rPET content in all bottles by 2025, further escalating to 50% by 2030.
To address this demand for post-consumer recycled content in North American end markets, the association has advocated for the implementation of new policies and enhancements in recycling infrastructure.
Laura Stewart, NAPCOR’s executive director, emphasized the surging demand for recycled content from manufacturers in both the food/beverage and non-food bottle categories.
She highlighted that PET packaging’s adaptability in being reused and repurposed plays a pivotal role in the circular economy.
Stewart stressed the importance of collaborative efforts among manufacturers, consumers, and packagers to facilitate significant changes, ensuring ample PET collection for achieving full circularity.
Additionally, the report noted an 88% increase in the utilization of recyclate from post-consumer PET thermoforms in comparison to 2021. In 2022, the average post-consumer rPET content on PET thermoforms stood at 12%.
Meanwhile, NAPCOR’s 2020 report shows that while the U.S. demand in 2020 for rPET was strong, the collection of PET bottles decreased by approximately 2.3% to a recycling rate of 26.6%.
Examining the use of rPET in specific end markets, the 2020 report positions the industry at a pivotal point where Food/Beverage and Non-Food/Beverage Bottle categories grew by 32% in total, surpassing fiber for the first time as the largest end-market user of PCR PET bottles.
In addition, over the past decade, there has been a cumulative increase in rPET consumption in U.S. and Canadian markets, climbing from 1 billion pounds in 2010 to 1.8 billion pounds in 2020.
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