PET Bottle Recycling Rate Plunged in 2019: NAPCOR

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The annual recycling report published by the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) denotes marginal decline in U.S. PET bottle recycling rates during 2019.

However, the volume of rPET consumption in the manufacture of new bottles witnessed slight jump. The increase of postconsumer rPET usage suggests continued commitment toward a circular economy by brand owners, said Tom Busard, Chairman, NAPCOR.

The 2019 PET Recycling Report says that U.S. PET plastic bottle recycling rate totalled 27.9% in 2019, recording slight decline from the rate of 28.9% in the year before that. Meantime, the amount of rPET that goes into new bottles has surged higher by 41% from 2017 to 2019. At the same time, the rPET going into the thermoform and sheet market recorded 16% year-on-year decline. Over the prior year, the amount of rPET going into fiber and strapping witnessed marginal decline by 1% each in 2019.

For the first time in history, the NAPCOR report for 2019 includes the North American PET recycling rate, after including recycling data from Mexico and Canada. The higher recycling rate in these countries helped in a higher regional PET recycling rate of 35%.

This is the 25^th year that NAPCOR has released the report.

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