According to the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), in 2012, 31.8 percent of Recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles in the U.S. were recycled, yielding 859,000 tons; up 6.6 percent from 2011’s 802,000 tons, and up by 53 percent from 2002’s 398,500 tons.
Recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) pellets are now selling at higher prices than new PET produced from scratch at refineries, says Repro/Regrind Resin Report from PetroChem Wire
As of April 15, 2014, bulk virgin PET was selling at 72 cents per pound while recycled PET pellets were fetching as much as 77 cents per pound, according to PetroChem Wire.
“When recycled plastic costs more than new production, you know the U.S. has dramatically ramped up its efforts to decrease the amount of plastics heading to the garbage,” said Xavier A. Cronin, editor of Repro-Regrind Resin Report.
One reason for the virgin-to-recycled-PET price anomaly is an overproduction of virgin PET in the U.S. This is the result of investors being convinced that demand for PET would rise, so they built new PET production plants in recent years.
Another factor Cronin cites is that some plastic-bottle makers must include a certain percentage of recycled PET in their new production to meet environmental mandates. This further increases demand for recycled PET pellets.
The highest volume of recyclables comes from people’s homes. Bottles, jars and everything else plastic (and metal and paper) are put into recycling bins for curbside collection. The municipality picks it up each week and it gets separated and cleaned.
In recent years, advances in plant technology have allowed some recycled PET flake to be used directly in the production of new packaging, bypassing the pellet stage. Companies that buy recycled pellet use it to make new plastic packaging.