Brazil consolidates position among world leaders in the area

Brazil maintains its position among the leaders in the recycling of PET in the world. In 2011, the country gave the correct destination to 294 thousand tons of post-consumption PET bottles, which represents 57.1% of the packaging discarded by consumers. These results were divulged from the 8th poll on PET recycling in Brazil, as disclosed by the Brazilian Association of PET (Abipet), during Rio + 20, which also bring other encouraging data.

The details were presented at the First International Conference of the PET Industry, held at the Renaissance Hotel in São Paulo, between June 11 and 12. The event gathered over 340 participants from 21 countries, including resin producers, recyclers, manufacturers and users of packaging machinery and equipment, along with consultants and international experts, who spoke about the main trends of this market.

Figures show growth

The total recycled volume in 2011 corresponds to an increase of 4.25% when compared to 282 thousand tons recycled in 2010. This increase is more than double the growth in production of new packaging which corresponded to 2% in 2011, despite the global economic crisis. Today, with revenues of R$ 1.2 billion, recycling accounts for more than one third of all revenues of the PET industry in Brazil.

"This fact shows that despite the difficulties related to selective collection of disposed packaging, the work developed by the industry in order to generate demand for recycled PET, contributes greatly to the development of recycling," says Abipet´s president, Auri Marçon. "Additionally, we collect, recycle and apply the recycled material in our own territory. We do not export post-consumption packaging, as some developed nations do - they have good systems for collecting, but send their solid waste to be recycled in developing countries, "he says.

Destinations of recycled PET

The textile market remains the main destination of all recycled PET in Brazil. The sector is responsible for using about 40% of the material. Then the second place is shared by the sectors of packaging and chemical applications, with 18% each. "The textile industry remains the main focus, but the fantastic growth in the use of recycled bottle-to-bottle PET to manufacture another package also attracts our attention - this new application had several projects launched in the past two years," said Marçon.

The potential of all these markets is confirmed by the 409 respondent recyclers. Of these, 42% said that the textile sector will continue to show the greatest growth in the use of recycled PET. For other 33%, the food packaging segment represent the most promising are for recycling PET. The poll results also highlight that 8% of the respondents believe that technical applications for the automotive market will gain proeminence in the coming years.

Source: Abipet / WN & P Communications