PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2011

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 17 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 10/11 www.petpla.net million tonnes of PET bottles and jars was available in the United States for recycling in 2009. The post-consumer PET bottle recycling rate was 28%, which represented an increase for the sixth consecutive year. The report attrib- utes this to, among other factors, an increase in collec- tions in California; new collection programs; various major program expansions and conversions; and new commer- cial recovery efforts. US reclaimers saw their total pur- chases of US bottles return to 2007 levels (292kt) Other sales of RPET were to Canadian and Chinese buyers. Sluggish bale demand drove prices down late 2008/early 2009 but prices recovered during the year. Good quality, dirty granulate commanded a premium of at least $0.10/lb ($220/t) over bales. The increased rate and higher activity in recycling took place against a background of reduction in the number of PET jars and bottles produced and sold in the USA, as well as less raw material usage, resulting from light- weighting initiatives. Analysis by the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) for IBWA (International Bottled Water Association) found that over the past eight years the gram weight of the 16.9oz ‘single serve’ bottled water container dropped by 32.6%, from 18.9g in 2000 to 12.7g by 2009. Napcor has made recycling of PET thermoforms its highest priority and is working with collectors, intermedi- ate processors, reclaimers and end markets to identify and clearly define technical issues and to eliminate barriers to successful recycling. www.petnology.com With PET ahead: versatile, sustainable and flexible Conference Organiser PETnology/tecPET GmbH P.O. Box 120 429 D-93026 Regensburg, Germany Phone: +49 941 870 23 74 Fax: +49 941 870 23 73 [email protected] November 7-8, 2011 Nuremberg Congress Center Nuremberg (CCN East) Prior to Brau Beviale XIV. Strategy and Technology Conference for the PET Packaging Industry 1 The ‘Post Consumer PET recycling in Europe 2010 and Pros- pects to 2015’ report was prepared for Petcore by PCI PET Pack- aging, Resin & Recycling Ltd. To purchase a copy of this report, contact PCI directly at [email protected] 2* The Napcor/APPR ‘Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity’ is available from NAPCOR’s website, www. napcor.com. Petcore (PET Containers Recycling Europe) is a non-profit European trade association based in Brussels. It focuses on sustainable growth for post consumer PET collection and supports PET recycling processes as part of European Plastics Waste Management initiatives. www.petcore.org EuPR (European Plastics Recyclers) is the profes- sional representative body of plastics recyclers in Europe. EuPR members constitute 80% of the European recycling capacity, processing more than 5 million tonnes of col- lected plastics per year. www.plasticsrecyclers.eu Napcor (National Association for PET Container Resources) is the trade association for the PET plastic packaging industry in the United States and Canada. www.napcor.com. APPR , the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recy- cling, represents companies involved in acquisition, repro- cessing and sale of more than 90% of post-consumer plastic processing in the USA, Canada and Mexico. www.plasticsrecycling.org