Recycled bottle is already one-third of the market for PET
Valor Econômico
The market for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) represents about a third of all net sales of the PET industry in Brazil, or R$ 1.12 billion (US$ 658.8 million). According to information from the Brazilian Association of the Industry of PET (Abipet), the sales of manufacturers reached the amount of R$ 3.38 billion (US$ 1.72 billion) in 2009, representing an increase of about 6% compared to R$ 3.18 billion (US$ 1.87 billion) recorded in the previous year. "The recycling of PET plays an important role in the industry. Technological applications and the degrees of cleanliness of PET that are being developed worldwide stimulate this growth", said the president of the association, Auri Marçon.
The PET industry is basically formed by the manufacturers of pre-form (the form used to make the PET bottle), recycling companies and the resin manufacturers. There is not an exact survey of how many companies integrate the sector in Brazil - since the pre-form segment is very fragmented - but the area employs about 40 thousand workers directly and indirectly. The growth of the recycling segment, with 182 companies spread in all regions of Brazil, has been outstanding within the industry. In 2009, registered an increase of 3.6% in volume of recycled PET bottles, totaling 262 thousand tons against 253 thousand tons that receive destination environmentally suitable in 2008.
That means that the total of recycled PET in Brazil corresponds to 55.6% of the 471 thousand tons of the product that can be recycled in the country. "This result is one of the largest in the world", said Marçon. For the executive, however, the results of the PET industry could be much better if there were more advanced procedures for collecting of used bottles. "The companies say that the PET capture is still difficult", he says. The last census carried out by the association showed that 35% of the companies in the sector have found increasingly difficult to obtain PET to buy. Even so, there is optimism in the market, since 83% of the respondents said they plan to invest in the next 12 months. To Marçon, 2010 will mean a double-digit growth in the volume of PET recycling in the country.