Study finds Germany is recycling 94 percent of its PET bottles

The German Association for Plastic Packaging and Film IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e.V.,  has commissioned a study, conducted by the Society for Packaging Market Research, Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung (GVM) indicating that in 2013, around 94 percent of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles in Germany are recycled. In addition, almost a third of PET recyclates produced domestically were being used for the production of new PET bottles.

The study was commissioned by the association’s PET Forum.

The association says the study was one of the first to show the closed-loop model regarding the occurrence and recovery of PET bottles in Germany.

The study focused on PET bottles for almost all beverage segments. Milk drinks did not form part of the study.
Results for recycling of compulsory-deposit one-way PET bottles, which represent the largest market segment in PET drinks bottles, came in as high as 97.2 percent.

The association notes that consumers they return 96 percent of deposit bottles to retailers, thus making for particularly efficient segregation. In some cases, even deposit bottles disposed of by consumers were extracted and sent for recycling.

The association says that around 80 percent of PET recycling now takes place in Germany, with only a small proportion sent abroad for processing.

According to the GVM study, new PET bottles in 2013 consisted of an average of 24 percent recycled material (and 26% for compulsory-deposit one-way bottles).