PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2020

PET planet Insider Vol. 21 No. 01+02/20 www.petpla.net 33 TRADE SHOW REVIEW discussed availability shortages - par- ticularly of food-grade material - and how this combined with the growing anti-plastic consumer backlash, an increasingly hostile legislative environ- ment and rising competition for waste volumes - including fresh competition for chemical recycling pilot plants - is driving players to consider alternative materials. Victory also discussed the increas- ingly two-tier market for recycled poly- olefins prices between grades used in packaging applications, which are largely sustainability target driven, and grades used in other industries, which are largely cost-driven, and how this is weakening the traditional relationship between recycled polyolefin and virgin prices. Rising demand from the pack- aging industry saw rHDPE and rPP natural pellet prices trade above virgin prices for the first time in the second half of 2019. The presentation “The status of the recycled PET market today” by Helen McGeough, Senior Analyst, Plastics Recycling, ICIS, dealt with the discrepancy between the high price of rPET on the one hand and the pres- sure on the other hand to allow this to pass into the packaging. She ascribed her own figures to this: according to her analysis, 2.1 million tons of PET bottles were collected in Europe in 2018, which corresponds to a bottle collection rate of 63%. McGeough acknowledged: “There is great varia- tion between countries. The collection rates vary between 21% (Bulgaria) and 96% (Germany).” A lack of infrastruc- ture explains low collection rates, while the top seven highest rates were found in countries operating deposit return schemes. Helen McGeough Against this 2.1 million tons of PET collected in 2018, McGeough set 1.4 million tons of rPET that was available to the industry that same year. This corresponds to a recycling rate of 44%. “We are losing a great deal of mate- rial in the process,” stated McGeough, suggesting poor sorting and high con- tamination as the cause for this. However, analysts are also finding a great willingness in the industry to do more. rPET capacity expansions and projects are already in place and should provide at least 250,000+ tons of food grade rPET in the next two years. It was agreed that four large groups had a possible influence on geopolitical factors relating to rPET:  Circular Economy  China and Trade of Waste Resources  “Plasti-phobia”  Investment “The EU Directive is a driver,” explains McGeough, “and the manda-