The development and implementation of a more sustainable approach in the entire supply chain of the food, beverage, home and personal care industries is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of our time, one we take very seriously.
Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) are packaged using a large range of materials. The four most common packaging materials for these categories remain PET, glass, can and carton[1].
PET is a form of polyester and is one of the most widely used consumer plastics. The advantages of PET as a packaging material are numerous: It is strong, unbreakable, light, transparent, safe, and above all recyclable.
As a lightweight material, PET offers considerable environmental advantages in the form of lower transport costs and reduced fuel emissions. Its unique geometric properties and inherent barrier properties, together with its design flexibility, have enabled to use less and less material in the packaging process, while optimising energy use.
These processes also help reduce waste and improve sustainability measures.
In 2016, the global production of PET was 50 million tonnes. Out of them, 617 billion units PET bottles were used to package food, beverage, home and personal care products [1]. Figures from West Europe[2] show that actual volume of PET processed in that year for recycling purposes reflected more than 56% of what produced – and approximately 95% of what collected. The major market for recycled PET remains sheet - 38%, blow-moulding - 26%, fibre - just under 24% and strapping and other applications - just over 11%[3]. However, the great variance in the individual country collection rates - with virtuous peaks of over 90% in Germany and Norway – demonstrates that there is still some work to be done, to fully apply a circular economy approach to PET packaging. Still, we see increased commitments from brand owners towards recycled PET and machines manufacturers are adjusting their equipment to higher rates recycled PET. Final objective is to keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life. This mission is imperative, considering that PET adoption in the food, beverage, home and personal care markets is projected to grow by 3% (2016-2020)[4].
Initiatives to promote light-weighting opportunities, to ensure 100% recyclability and to facilitate conversion from less eco-friendly packaging materials to PET, are only a few examples of how ABMI members are actively supporting this move, via continuous cooperation between FMCG manufacturers, brand owners, OEMs and, of course, the end consumers.
[1] Euromonitor Internationala
[2] The countries included in the survey are 26 EU member countries (no survey is possible for the EU countries of Malta and Cyprus) plus two non-member countries, Norway and Switzerland.
[3] PET recycle survey West Europe 2016 (Wood Mackenzie Limited, August 2017)
[4] Total PET market worldwide, Euromonitor International