PET trays are widely used for fruits and vegetables, sausage and cheese products, and ready-to-eat items. However, they have a significantly lower recycling rate than other types of plastic packaging, despite technologies for sorting and recycling them now being available. This was the conclusion of a study on the recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging in Germany and Europe. Initiated by Forum Rezyklat, the study involved IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e.V. and was conducted by cyclos-HTP Institute, GVM Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung and Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP.
The study analyses the market volume of PET trays and the existing collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure, as well as the prerequisites for tray-to-tray recycling, in the context of the European Packaging Regulation (PPWR). With an estimated market volume of around 144,000 tonnes of PET trays in 2024, Germany is set to be the largest single market in Europe. The study estimates the combined volume for the 27 member states of the European Union (EU-27) at approximately 824,000 metric tons. At the same time, the study highlights a trend towards monolayer structures instead of multilayer ones, which create more favourable conditions for recycling. The full publication, 'PET Tray Recycling: Status Quo, Challenges, and Future Scenarios – Phase 1”, is available free of charge at www.forum-rezyklat.de/fachpublikationen.
Capacity expansion for recycling at scale
In Germany, around 18 per cent of PET trays are currently processed into new recycled material. For plastic packaging as a whole, the figure is around 52 per cent. To meet the PPWR requirements for recycling on an industrial scale, recycling input capacities of around 697,000 tonnes per year would be needed across Europe from 2035 onwards. This means that significantly more PET trays must be collected and sorted by type across Europe in order to come close to meeting this volume. Compared to the current capacity of around 235,000 to 250,000 metric tons, this represents a shortfall of approximately 454,000 metric tons. This corresponds to the output of six to eight large-scale facilities.
The study found that barriers to increasing recycling capacity include the interplay between investment decisions and available material streams, current price differences between virgin and recycled PET, and a lack of long-term purchase agreements.
"The study provides a reliable overview that highlights the current challenges and clearly identifies gaps. It is now crucial to address the identified areas of action along the value chain together,” explains Lisa Marie Ruffert, Circular Consultant at BellandVision and Head of the PET Trays Work Package at Forum Rezyklat.
