American Beverage Association Highlights Needs to Boost PET Bottle Recycling

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Beverage Association has released new estimates on PET bottle recycling rates in the U.S., which highlights the need for increased efforts to boost PET bottles recycling in the country.

The top beverage companies in the U.S. collectively produce approximately 100 billion plastic bottles every year. Only around 35 million bottles are collected for recycling. This suggests that majority of PET bottles end up in waste streams, posing threat to the environment, human and other life.

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The report published by the Falls Church, Virginia-based ‘The Recycling Partnership’ states that the supply-demand gap for rPET currently stands at around 1 billion pounds. In order to fill this huge gap, every U.S. citizen would require recycling additional 100 PET bottles per year.

A significant investment in PET bottle recycling is the need of the hour, noted the Association. To this effect, it has already assured investment of nearly $400 million towards plastic bottle recycling efforts as part of its recently launched ‘Every Bottle Back’ initiative. The initiative brings together top beverage makers and various non-profit groups in its efforts to boost recycling.

The Association extended full support in creating a circular system for recreating bottles to new ones, which in turn will lead to conservation of resources and reduction of the industry’s plastic footprint.