PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2011

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 18 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 09/11 www.petpla.net Brazilian R-PET plant feeds own bottle production Where the streets have no name Strong growth of Brazilian PET market The rapid economic growth in South America is generating an increasing demand for virgin PET material of about 1,300 million tons this year. South America has a mighty thirst and the prospects are bright: a growth in demand for PET is forecast to reach about 6.5% for the South American region. Water is expected to grow by an impressive 8.3%, CSD by 4.5%. The growth in demand for R-PET is expected to reach 4.4%. While the South American PET bottle recovery rate lies at only 37%, the Brazilian collection rate is, at 62%, the highest in the region, and accounts for 64% of the toal collec- tion rate in the region. The trend is that collection volumes are set to rise due to higher recovery rates with a consequent strong growth in bottle consumption. This was the starting point for the MDM Group to make a far-reaching decision. Bottle-to-bottle recycling instead of an adventurous 3,300km trip Right in the middle of the Brazil- ian Rondonia Province is one of the most modern beverage companies in Latin America: MDM Dydyo, a subsidi- ary company of the MDM Group. The raw material used to produce the PET bottles directly in the company was delivered by an adventurous route In November 2010, an ambitious project started in the Brazilian town of Porto Velho. The MDM Group established the Amazon RCP project, a recycling company located directly in Porto Velho, collecting PET garbage from all over the region, processing it and using it to produce new bottles using Erema’s Vacurema Advanced 1716 T technology.