Market research company Research And Markets recently published its global forecast of the recycled PET market to 2026, estimating that it will increase in value from $8.9 billion presently to $11.7 billion by 2026 — a combined annual growth rate of 5.7% over the five-year period.
PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is a clear, strong, lightweight plastic used in an array of packaging applications, from foods and beverages to cosmetics, window cleaner, and tennis balls.
Research And Markets cited multiple factors contributing to PET’s projected growth, such as:
- Growing demand for manufacturing bottles, sheets, fiber, and other PET-based products.
- Increasing collection, domestic recycling, and recovery of PET, and exporting of PET waste.
- Implementation of environmental regulations.
Additional insights from the forecast include:
- PET flakes, the raw material that is melted down and then shaped, which accounted for about 57.5% of the recycled PET market in 2020, are expected to be the fastest-growing type of recycled PET during the forecast period.
- Bottles, which accounted for a share of about 36.5% of the recycled PET market in 2020, are expected to be the fastest-growing application of recycled PET during the forecast period.
- The Asia-Pacific region, which accounted for 43.6% of the recycled PET market in 2020, is expected to remain the largest market for recycled PET during the forecast period.
Major brands, including L’Oréal, Nestlé, and PepsiCo are working with green biotech company Carbios to use PET plastic bottles produced entirely from enzymatically recycled plastic in their products.