PET Bottle Recycling Rate Static As Collection Lags Production Slightly

According to a report released by NAPCOR, the National Association for PET Container Resources, the recycling rate of plastic PET bottles continues to hover around 30%, as it has for many years. Both collection and production of PET bottles increased in 2021, leading to a net decrease in recycling rate of 1.3%.

The national bottle recycling rate remains little changed over the past decade, dipping in 2022 after rising in 2021. Photo Credit: NAPCOR

NAPCOR reports that the overall PET recycling rate for North America was also down slightly, to 37.8%. For the first time, more than 50% of end market consumption was in the U.S. and Canadian bottle markets.

“There is a growing demand for recycled content from manufacturers within both the food/beverage and non-food bottle categories,” says Laura Stewart, NAPCOR executive director. “This is continued evidence that packaging made from PET can be reused and repurposed, and has a key role to play in the circular economy. Everyone involved — including manufacturers, consumers and packagers — needs to work together and make significant changes to ensure enough PET is collected and full circularity can be achieved.”

The use of recycled PET in bottles grew 15% in the U.S., consuming 870 million lbs. To enable 25% recycled content, an additional 1.75 billion lbs/yr of PET would need to be collected, an increase of 85% over 2022. To enable an average of 50%, an increase of 3.87 billion lbs/yr would be needed, tripling the amount collected in 2022.

According to a 2015-2016 Sustainable Packaging Coalition study, 72% of households in the United States have curbside recycling collection.

The report also describes trends in the amount of PET recycled both from and into thermoformed containers. There was an 88% increase in the use of recycled PET from thermoformed containers, a small but growing portion of the resin market. PET thermoforming used an average of 12% postconsumer recycled content in 2022.