From SystemIQ:

PET/polyester is used everywhere – from bottles and food packaging to clothes and healthcare products. It accounts for around a quarter of plastic packaging and three quarters of synthetic textiles consumed in Europe.

What might a PET/polyester system look like, if it could combine all circular economy approaches, including reuse, and mechanical and chemical recycling?

A new synthesis study by Systemiq is the first in a series exploring circularity pathways for PET/polyester. Titled Circularity of PET/polyester packaging and textiles in Europe, it draws on insights from 80+ published reports and research and advice from industry experts to assess the current state of PET/polyester circularity in Europe and considers the potential role of chemical recycling – currently utilised in very low volumes – in complementing mechanical recycling, reuse and other circular economy approaches.

The study highlights that:

• The PET/polyester system in Europe is mostly not circular today, with 75% of the material ending up in landfill or incineration. It is also largely dependent on virgin production using fossil-fuel-based feedstocks.

• Chemical recycling technologies are emerging for PET/polyester at industrial scale. They offer the potential to increase circularity by complementing mechanical recycling and upcycling hard-to-recycle plastic waste into high-quality recycled PET/polyester.

• The complementary application of mechanical, chemical recycling and reuse in the PET/polyester system has potential to optimise environmental and socioeconomic benefits.

What's next?

The next report in this series will be published in the coming months. It will provide a new evidence base, exploring the future potential for complementarity of mechanical and chemical recycling of PET/polyester in Europe under different scenarios. It will quantify material flows and environmental impacts of each scenario, and in doing so will help to answer some of the key gaps in existing research, identified in the first synthesis study.