South Africa: PET Recycling Rate Increased

PETCO, the organization responsible for fulfilling the South African PET plastic industry’s role of Extended Producer Responsibility, has announced their 2016 recycling figures which indicate an increase in their annual PET recycling rate from 52 percent of post-consumer bottles PET in 2015 to 55 percent in 2016.

The organization recycled 90,749 tons of post-consumer bottles in comparison to the previous year (74,360 tons in 2015) with the total PET market growing by 14.8 percent to 241,269 tons. The voluntary recycling fee paid annually by PETCO members on every ton of raw material purchased has enabled the payment of a total of 1.9 billion South African Rand (about 142 million US-Dollar or 130 million Euro) by contracted recyclers to collectors for baled bottles since the inception of PETCO in 2004, ensuring the collection of PET bottles for recycling is sustained, and resulting in almost 800,000 tons of carbon and over 3 million m3 of landfill space saved to date.

GR 22017