Our Mission
Our mission is to recycle every PET plastic bottle in Europe
We have a vision for PET bottle-to-bottle recycling that will realise a more sustainable future for the plastic packaging we all rely on to keep our food and drinks fresh, healthy and clean.
As Petcore Europe we represent the complete PET value chain in Europe, from manufacture to conversion into packaging and recycling, and other related activities. We recognise that we have to change the way we do things.
This is the same for industries as it is for everyday people.
We believe PET is the future of sustainable packaging. It is:
Light
Durable
Safe
Near infinitely recyclable
That’s why it’s such a tragedy to see this resource going to waste. While PET is already the most recycled plastic packaging in Europe, we could be doing so much better.
For our mission to be a success we need our bottles back. This means investment in collection and sorting as our recyclers have an unused capacity of 250-300,000 tonnes – 11.8 billion bottles a year! We’re ready to recycle more and turn PET bottle production into a closed loop, but smart waste management is needed to make this a reality.
What we’re doing to reduce waste
- We help fund deposit return schemes across Europe to improve collection rates.
- We have increased our PET recycling capacity and continue to improve the cycle.
- We are exploring bio-based options to create fully recyclable and renewable PET.
What we’re doing to reduce emissions
- We are improving design to create lighter bottles that use less material and require less fuel for transport.
- We increase recycled content rates as recycled PET products show a drop of up to 90% in CO2 emissions compared with virgin PET.
- We are optimising our supply chain, for example using in-house production.
About Petcore
Petcore Europe is the association based in Brussels representing the complete PET value chain in Europe, from PET manufacture to conversion into packaging and recycling, and other related activities.
Visit our website for more about our structure and members.