PET recycling group launches in Belgium

Petcore Europe, an industry organization that represents the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) value chain based in Brussels, has launched PET Monomer Recycling, a special industry group. The group will help to establish a strong, sustainable value chain in the development of reusing the monomers from PET waste, Petcore Europe reports in a news release announcing the new group.

“The mission of this new group is to facilitate a platform to position PET monomer recycling as a viable addition to the established mechanical recycling process, enhancing the circularity of PET,” says Christian Crépet, executive director of Petcore Europe. 

“Mechanical recycling of PET has been the pace setter for many years, presenting PET as a most suitable recyclable material,” PET Monomer Group states on its website. “However, advancements in packaging and wider use of PET has led to more complexity of recovery after use. The advent of monomers from postconsumer PET has also been around for years, but not commercially and technically available at scale. Due to the interest to develop more circularity of the PET value chain, monomer recycling of PET becomes feasible and is gaining momentum.” 

The new group will use networking and outreach of the Petcore organization to interact with legislators, regulators and nongovernmental organizations to ensure chemical recycling of PET is an acceptable business. The group will work to ensure health and safety aspects of this line of business as well as gaining new product acceptance.