Allan Gerlat, News Editor

October 10, 2012

1 Min Read
U.S. PET Recycling Rate Stays Level

Editor's note: This story originally gave total volume of PET bottles collected incorrectly as 1.6 billion tons.

The U.S. recycling rate for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers held steady at 29.3 percent, while collection of postconsumer PET bottles and total recycled PET produced by U.S. reclaimers reached record levels, according to a new report.

Volume of PET bottles collected reached 1.6 billion pounds, while recycled PET produced in the United States totaled 667 million pounds, according to the annual report by the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) and the Washington-based Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR).

“We are pleased to see that PET collection increased in 2011 despite some challenges,” said Tom Busard, NAPCOR chairman and vice president of global procurement and material systems for Plastipak Packaging, in a news release from the Sonoma, Calif.-based NAPCOR. PET bottle lightweighting occurred to a greater extent in 2011 than had been seen in the past, which improves PET’s environmental footprint but means additional processing for PET recyclers to produce the same weights.

About the Author(s)

Allan Gerlat

News Editor, Waste360

Allan Gerlat joined the Waste360 staff in September 2011 as news editor. He was the editor of Waste & Recycling News for the first 16 years of its history, and under his guidance the publication won 27 national and regional awards.

Before Waste & Recycling News, Allan worked at another Crain Communications publication, Rubber & Plastics News, which covers rubber product manufacturing. He began with the publication as associate editor and eventually became managing editor, a position he held for nine years.

Allan is a graduate of Ohio University, where he earned a BS in journalism. He is based in Sagamore Hills, in northeast Ohio.

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