PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2019

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 04/19 www.petpla.net 40 Recycling Special Current study on the reusable material cycle Recycling rate for PET beverage bottles in Germany The German Packaging Act, which came into force on January 1, 2019, places higher demands on recycling and is intended to strengthen sustainable recy- cling management. The recycling of PET bottles in Germany is already at a high level: more than 93% of all PET bottles find a new field of application after use; the recycling rate of PET bottles with refundable deposit is even 97%. This is the result of the updated study “The emergence and recycling of PET beverage bottles in Germany” by the Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarkt- forschung (GVM) on behalf of Forum PET. In particu- lar, those responsible see potential in increasing the proportion of recycled PET material and the expan- sion of bottle-to-bottle recycling. “Compared with other countries, Germany leads the way in PET recycling as a prime example“, says Dr Isabell Schmidt, Managing Director at IK Indus- trievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e.V. “The updated study shows clearly that Germany is already recycling PET beverage bottles - especially in the deposit system - at almost the highest level.” In order to achieve the 90% quota for the separate collec- tion of plastic bottles required at EU level, European countries such as France are currently discussing the introduction of a deposit system. “Thanks to the deposit system, the German recycling system already significantly exceeds this quota for PET bottles,” says Schmidt. The updated GVM study confirms this: Compared to the previous study, the recycling rates are at an almost unchanged level: 93% of all PET bottles were recycled in 2017 and the recycling rate of one-way deposit PET bottles is even 97,3%. Unique technologies, innovative solutions, comprehensive technical support, high expertise in all kinds of plastics applications. In others words: typical Gneuss. Continuously Constant gneuss.com Plastic Recycling Show Stand E 24 Pressure and process constant /GNV ʏNVTCVKQP Chinaplas Hall 5.1, Stand J36