Following an all-time high in 2025, with 33,675 tonnes of PET material recycled, PET to PET Recycling Österreich GmbH, based in Müllendorf, has released its figures for the first half of 2026: 17,101 tonnes of PET material were successfully kept within the bottle-to-bottle cycle. Despite a slight year-on-year decline of 7 per cent (first half of 2025: 18,403 tonnes), a positive upward trend can be seen when comparing figures over several years (first half of 2024: 16,071 tonnes).
Ongoing pressure on the market for recycled PET
Commenting on the current market situation, Christian Strasser, Managing Director of PET to PET, said: “The circular economy in Europe is coming under increasing pressure. Secondary raw materials are consistently more expensive than primary raw materials. The economic situation is forcing more and more companies to exploit every opportunity to reduce costs. There is a lack of a legal framework in the form of mandatory usage quotas to prevent distortions of competition arising from sustainable practices. Due to the switch to the single-use deposit system in Austria and the economic challenges, a significant decline was already observed in the second half of 2025, which continued to some extent into the first half of 2026.”
Thomas Billes, Managing Director of PET to PET, adds: “The conflict in the Middle East has led to a sharp slowdown in the nascent economic recovery – and to a surge in the prices of energy and primary raw materials. Whilst the latter has eased the situation on the secondary raw materials market in the short term, this phase is increasingly returning to pre-crisis levels. Despite the challenging operating conditions, we remain confident and expect PET to PET to achieve a better annual result than in 2025.”
