Petcore announced that European post-consumer PET collection rates reached 796,000 tonnes in 2005, a 15.1 percent increase over the previous year.
The increase in PET collection continues, by far, to exceed growth in consumption. The largest boost came from Germany where collection shot up 32 percent to reach over 200,000 tonnes.
Significant growth was observed in other countries too, especially in Poland and France. “We were expecting the increase in Germany, but were particularly impressed to see growth continue in countries like France, seen by many as mature collection states”, said Frank Koelewijn, Petcore's Director General.
Collection has also increased in the UK and Ireland, but mostly in the form of mixed plastic waste, which is not included in Petcore's statistics.
Export to the Far East was slightly down, from 18.8 percent in 2004 to 17.6 percent (or 140,000 tonnes) in 2005.
Over 100,000 tonnes of exported bottles came from German retailers, despite ample recycling capacity available both in Germany and its surrounding countries. Mr. Koelewijn continued: “There are two reasons why we are concerned about those developments.”
“First, it is very hard to explain to German consumers why the bottles they bring back to the shops need to be shipped to the other side of the world to be recovered, as they can actually be recycled closer to home."
"Second, China will close its doors one day. What will the retailers do with all those bottles if, by then, the local recyclers will have perished?”
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