PET recycling rate hike in the USA

According to America’s National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR), the PET recycling rate in the USA jumped from 21.6% in 2004 to 23.1% in 2005.
The volume of collected PET post-consumer containers amounted to 1.17 billion pounds. At the same time, the volume of PET containers available for recycling in the USA also climbed – by 9.4% to 5.075 million pounds. This growth was driven primarily by strong sales of still water and isotonic beverages.
Over 860 million pounds of recycled PET was used in 2005 in USA, with manufacturing applications including fibre for carpet and apparel, strapping, sheet, film, food and non-food containers.
The full ’2005 Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity’€™ can be found on the NAPCOR (www.napcor.com) and APR (www.plasticsrecycling.org) websites.