PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2018

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 06/18 www.petpla.net 13 been paid by contracted recyclers to collectors for baled bottles, with a total of 609,306t of PET recycled to date. This has saved more than 900,000t of carbon and almost four million cubic metres of landfill space. End use markets From the amount of recycled bot- tles, 38% went to bottle-to-foodgrade and bottle-to-bottle applications i.e. for use in bottles and PET thermoforms like sandwich trays or cake trays. 58% went into polyester fibre applications. This includes the manufacture of pil- lows and duvets, some apparel and roof insulation, amongst others. It fur- ther includes “geo-textiles” which are liners for dams, roads and landfills. Only 4% was exported as either baled bottles or flakes for recycling in other countries. This low figure is regarded positively because it means 96% of bottles collected were recycled and directly used in South Africa, states the organisation. www.petco.co.za Petco is responsible for fulfilling the PET plastic industry’s mandate of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). About Petco: Petco (the PET Plastic Recy- cling Company NPC) works to fulfil the South African PET industry’s role of Extended Producer Respon- sibility (EPR). EPR promotes the integration of environmental costs associated with PET products throughout their life cycles into the market costs of the products and shifts responsibility for the used packaging from govern- ment to private industry. They are financed by a voluntary recycling fee paid by converters on PET resin purchased, and grants from brand owners, resin producers and retailers.