PET container recycling at record level in USA

USA – The US recycling rate for PET containers increased for the seventh consecutive year in 2010. With a collection rate of 29%, the volume of PET collected for recycling reached its highest annual level to date (more than 1.5 billion pounds) and so did the amount of recycled PET employed in end-use applications (over 1 billion pounds).

The ‘2010 Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity’, resulting from studies conducted by different plastics recycling-related organisations in the USA, also details end uses for the record 1.002 billion pounds of recycled PET utilised in manufacturing applications, reflecting increases over 2009 in the sheet & film, food & beverage bottles, strapping and fibre end-use categories.

This is the sixth year that the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) and the PET Resin Association (PETRA) have partnered to produce the report and the sixteenth year that NAPCOR has issued the report in its current format. The document is described as ‘an important industry benchmark as well as a valuable snapshot of recycling trends’ by John Cullen, Chairman of PETRA’s Sustainability Committee and Commercial Manager of DAK Americas LLC.