PET bottle recycling shot up in 2023, resulting in the highest recycling rate in the United States in nearly 30 years.
New statistics released by the National Association for PET Container Resources indicate one in three PET bottles were recycled last year, a jump of 4 percent from 29 percent in 2022.
The increase to 33 percent, the highest collection rate since 1996, is a result of having fewer PET bottles available to recycle as well as an increase in the number of PET bottles actually recycled year over year, NAPCOR explained.
A total of 1.962 billion pounds of PET bottles were collected for recycling in 2023, a 2.7 percent increase from 1.91 billion pounds in 2022.
Last year's total also represents the highest annual weight for U.S. bottle collection ever recorded, the trade group said.
"NAPCOR's 2023 PET Recycling Report shows that while there were fewer PET bottles available to recycle in the U.S., there were still more PET bottles recycled in 2023, resulting in a higher recovery percentage. When manufacturers, consumers, retailers and recyclers work together to ensure PET is selected, collected and recycled, our planet reaps the rewards," NAPCOR Executive Director Laura Stewart said in a statement.
PET bottles available for recycling fell to 5.95 billion pounds in 2023, a 9.8 percent drop from the nearly 6.6 billion pounds available in 2022, NAPCOR said in the new report.
NAPCOR added, in an email: "Data from the domestic PET industry indicates that lower volumes of PET were supplied to bottle applications, particularly in the non-food/beverage sector. There was also less recycled PET supplied to the non-food/beverage bottle sector. Imports of all PET resin were down 12.1 percent compared to 2022, and imports in the IV (intrinsic viscosity) range best suited for bottle production were down 14.5 percent."
A combination of legislative requirements and a push by brands to use more recycled packaging content, meanwhile, helped promote more recycled content in PET bottles in the United States.
A total of 966 million pounds of recycled PET was used to make new bottles in 2023, up 11 percent from 870 million pounds in 2022. That adds up to a bottle-to-bottle application rate of 59 percent, a new record and up from the previous high of 54 percent in 2022.
NAPCOR, in its annual look at PET bottle recycling, also examines results from North America, and 2023 also was a record year for the entire continent. The United States, Canada and Mexico combined for a 41.3 percent PET bottle recycling rate for the year.
"NAPCOR's 2023 PET Recycling Report underscores the ever-growing demand for PCR content," Stewart said. "To meet this demand, NAPCOR and the PET industry are eager to work with the government and other stakeholders to improve the collection and recycling of PET plastic."
The trade group also indicated the average post-consumer recycled PET content in bottles and jars in the United States in 2023 was 16.2 percent, up 3 percent from the 13.2-percent mark posted in 2022.