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Why rPET may cost more than virgin PET

The polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin used to make drinking-water bottles comes in two kinds. Virgin PET is made from new raw materials; rPET, or recycled PET, is made from PET bottles and packaging that have already been used. The article What is rPET, and how does it differ from virgin PET? explains how the two differ.

Because rPET is made from used bottles, it might be expected to cost less than virgin PET. In many cases, though, it may cost more, food-grade rPET in particular, because a used bottle has to pass through stages that carry additional costs and requirements before it can become material for food packaging again.

Six factors behind the price

  1. Collecting used bottles The raw material for rPET is post-consumer PET, so a system is needed to take back or buy used bottles from many sources, and the material has to be selected for suitable quality. PTT Global Chemical (GC) states that sorting used plastic at source is important if high-quality recycled resin is to be produced at the other end.

  2. Sorting and removing contaminants Collected bottles may carry labels, caps, adhesive, drink residues, dirt, sand or other plastics, so they pass through several rounds of sorting and cleaning. Indorama Ventures describes this work at the recycling plant, from machine sorting to clearing out iron, sand and other plastics; each stage is set out in How PET bottles are recycled.

  3. Washing and decontamination technology Food-grade rPET requires technology that brings contaminants down to levels safe for contact with food, in line with the guidance of regulators such as the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). EFSA has published scientific guidance on assessing the safety of post-consumer mechanical PET recycling processes for food contact. The US FDA explains that contaminants in post-consumer plastic may appear in food-contact products made from it, and asks manufacturers who want it to review a food-contact use of recycled plastic to submit test results showing that their recycling process removes them.

  4. Quality control and certification Any rPET intended for food packaging has to pass quality checks, safety testing and analysis, and be certified by the relevant authorities. In the European Union, EFSA states that it assesses the safety of each recycling process, and that the European Commission and the EU member states decide, on the basis of that assessment, whether to approve it.

  5. Traceability A producer of high-quality rPET must be able to trace its raw material back to source, for safety and for consistent quality; the US FDA, for its part, asks manufacturers seeking its view to describe where their post-consumer plastic comes from and what source controls are in place. GC states that ENVICCO, the recycling plant of GC and its partner, places importance on producing high-quality recycled resin and can trace its raw material back to source.

  6. Rising market demand Many brands want to use recycled material to reduce their environmental impact and support sustainability goals, which has increased demand for high-quality rPET, especially food-grade rPET. GC noted in 2022 that consumers were turning to products that are better for the environment and society, and that demand for recycled plastic was rising.

What the price reflects

The price of rPET, then, is not simply the price of ‘used plastic’. It reflects the cost of the entire recycling system, from collection, sorting, washing, decontamination and resin production to quality control and safety certification.

A buyer comparing rPET bottles with virgin PET bottles may therefore want to ask, alongside the price, where the resin comes from, whether it is food-grade, and which authority has assessed the safety of the recycling process.

P.A.S. Intergroup forms its bottles from preforms in its own plant and offers rPET as an option. The rPET resin it uses comes from ENVICCO, part of the GC group; the Thai Food and Drug Administration (Thai FDA) certification and the EFSA assessment that ENVICCO cites for that resin are set out in What is rPET, and how does it differ from virgin PET?. Short answers to the questions that come up most often are collected in Common questions about PET bottles and recycling.

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