PET bottles no ‘ordinary plastic,' supporters say at treaty talks

Ottawa, Ontario — The PET bottle industry came to the global plastics treaty talks in Canada in late April preaching a message to diplomats that its material is better than "an ordinary plastic."

The National Association for PET Container Resources opened an event it organized in a downtown Ottawa hotel across the street from the negotiations with a straightforward argument: Think of its material, PET, as different.

"The thing about PET that we want to make sure that all of you, industry and delegates, understand is that it is not just an ordinary plastic," said Alasdair Carmichael, NAPCOR's program director. "It's got wonderful attributes in terms of its recyclability, its reuse, its strength, its cost basis."

The PET sector had other messages at the April 22 NAPCOR event, including that the industry supported a treaty and wanted it to have recycled content goals and extended producer responsibility programs that collect fees from industry to support recycling programs.

John Galt, CEO of molding equipment supplier Husky Technologies (Booth W2801 at NPE2024), said a treaty should have four elements: recycled content targets, EPR to boost collection, design for sustainability to reduce contamination in the recycling stream and life cycle analysis that compares environmental footprints of different packaging materials.

"I think those four things to me are the most critical that countries could have in terms of a position through this process," he said.

Galt pointed to Lithuania, which saw its PET container recycling rate skyrocket after it introduced a container deposit program in 2016.

"Lithuania went from 30 percent recovery to over 90 percent in 24 months when they implemented an EPR program of placing value on materials," he said.

PET bottle collection rates vary widely from country to country, and even within nations. Across Europe, the collection rate is about 60 percent and rising thanks to more countries adopting bottle deposit programs, according to the industry group Plastics Recyclers Europe.

In the U.S., it's at 30 percent nationwide, with the rate varying widely from state to state, with rates of 60 to 90 percent in most bottle bill states.

"We have had a hard time getting above the 30 percent PET collection rate," said Lauren Laibach, NAPCOR's director of data services. "Consumer participation is a big part of that. It's not the only part but it's a critical component."

"Regulation can help, certainly," said Carmichael. "That's why the treaty is so important, to bring in the right regulations."

He also used the recycling rate data to try to distinguish PET in the minds of treaty delegates at their breakfast event.

"There are estimates that over 50 percent of all the PET bottles globally are recycled," Carmichael said. "No other plastic can make that sort of claim."

Panelists at the event pointed to studies showing lower greenhouse gas impacts from manufacturing PET bottles compared with aluminum cans and glass bottles.

Galt said switching to other container types would increase the water used to make packaging.

"There's a lot that people do not think about. By the CDC's own information, 65 percent of the global population do not have access to clean drinking water," Galt said. "We would increase global water use by three to five times if we were to move to increasing glass or metal or composite paperboard containers."

But the discussion did not directly address environmental impacts from reusable containers, which some countries and groups want the treaty to support.

A 2023 study from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, presented at another event at the talks, said returnable packaging systems have the potential for a 35 percent to 70 percent reduction in both greenhouse gas impact and water use compared to single-use packaging.

The hour-long event did not allow time for audience questions.

Another panelist said the treaty should focus on fishing gear and avoid regulating PET bottles.

Chris DeArmitt, consultant and author of the book The Plastics Paradox, said discarded fishing nets make up the vast majority of plastic debris in the oceans.

"If there's one thing we should get behind in this meeting it's not to regulate PET bottles. … It should be regulations on the fishing industry to make sure these nets are discarded because we keep trapping animals and causing harm," he said. "They're the vast majority of what we find."

That statement drew applause from some in the audience. Fishing net regulations are part of treaty discussions and were part of other side panels at the talks in Ottawa, which went from April 23-29.

Another panelist, Crystal Howe, director of sustainability for Canadian bottled water maker Ice River Sustainable Solutions, said the industry should back regulations to boost collection and do a better job of educating consumers about recycling.

"Increasing the recycled content rate would increase the value," she said. "We have to tell those stories so that people can recognize that this is recyclable and put it in the blue box. It's important to educate, and make sure that accessibility is there. EPR is definitely important."