P.A.S. Intergroup forms its drinking-water bottles from preforms in its own plant. The bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and for customers who want to reduce their use of new material, the company offers rPET, or recycled PET, as an option. This article explains what rPET is, how it differs from virgin PET, and where the rPET resin the company uses comes from.
What rPET is
According to TOMRA, rPET is PET that has already been used, then recycled and put back into use. In practice, it is PET resin made from used PET bottles or packaging rather than from new raw materials.
TOMRA outlines the process: collected bottles are sorted, washed and shredded into PET flakes, which are melted into pellets, with decontamination part of the process. How PET bottles are recycled sets out each step.
How rPET differs from virgin PET
As a material, rPET is still PET. The difference lies in where the raw material comes from and how it is produced, which PTT Global Chemical (GC) sets out under five headings:
| Topic | Virgin PET | rPET |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Made from new raw materials such as PTA and MEG | Made from post-consumer PET, such as used drinking-water bottles |
| Applications | Bottles, packaging, films and fibres | New bottles, packaging, fibres and recycled products |
| Environmental aspect | Uses new raw materials | Reduces the use of new raw materials and brings waste back into productive use |
| Quality requirements | Controlled to virgin resin standards | Requires control of the quality of post-consumer raw material, of contamination and of the recycling process |
| Use in food and drink packaging | Can be used if it is food-grade | Can be used when it is food-grade rPET and complies with the relevant requirements |
For drinking-water bottles, the last row is the one that applies directly. In GC’s comparison, virgin PET needs to be food-grade; rPET needs to be food-grade and also to comply with the relevant requirements.
rPET for food and drink
Because rPET for food and drink packaging is in direct contact with its contents, it is held to stricter controls than recycled material for general use. The US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) reviews case by case whether a recycling process produces plastic pure enough for food contact, and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) assesses the safety of each recycling process.
How these controls bear on the price of rPET is covered in Why rPET may cost more than virgin PET.
The rPET P.A.S. Intergroup uses
The rPET resin that P.A.S. Intergroup uses comes from ENVICCO, part of the GC group. GC describes ENVICCO as the recycling plant of GC and its partner.
ENVICCO states that its food-grade rPET was certified by the Thai Food and Drug Administration (Thai FDA) in March 2023, and that its recycling process removes contaminants effectively enough for the resin to be used in food-contact packaging in line with the relevant requirements. SD Thailand reported the certification later that month.
ENVICCO also cites an EFSA safety assessment of its recycling process, stating that PCR PET (rPET made from post-consumer PET) from that process can be used at up to 100 per cent in the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of food.
The Thai FDA certification and the EFSA assessment belong to ENVICCO and cover its own resin and recycling process. P.A.S. Intergroup uses resin from this source for the rPET bottles it offers customers as an option.
Sources
- TOMRA. (2025, 15 May). What is rPET plastic?.
- PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited. (2025). Data for the PET and rPET comparison table above.
- US Food and Drug Administration. (2020). Recycled Plastics in Food Packaging.
- European Food Safety Authority. (n.d.). Recycled plastic materials.
- PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited. (2022, 20 June). Creating value from used plastics through PCR innovation. GC Sustainability (in Thai).
- ENVICCO. (2023, 14 March). ENVICCO Become the First rPET Food Grade Producer Being Certified by Thai-FDA in Consideration of Quality, Standards and Efficiency.
- SD Thailand. (2023, 31 March). Thai FDA approves InnoEco, Thailand’s first food-grade recycled plastic resin from ENVICCO (in Thai).
- ENVICCO. (2023, 12 September). ENVICCO Officially Approved by EFSA for PCR PET in food contact packaging application.