PET Is the Most Widely Recycled Plastic in the World

PET bottles and jars are accepted in virtually all recycling programs in the United States and Canada. Almost 2 billion pounds of PET were collected for recycling in 2018.

After collection, postconsumer PET is purchased by reclaimers who wash, grind and further process PET containers to produce a recycled resin ready for reuse in a variety of end products.

Learn more about PET Recovery in the video below.

Looking to learn more about the PET recycling process?

Recycling makes a difference… it really does! Each PET bottle recycled has a positive impact on our local and global communities in terms of resource conservation, local jobs and related infrastructure. Early education and habit forming behaviors can go a long way in ensuring that PET containers get recycled over and over again.

Understanding how recycled containers are processed and manufactured into new items helps us take ownership of the process. It becomes much more than just tossing a PET container into a recycling bin.

Recycling Resources
The Association of Plastics Recyclers has several resources for PET recycling as well as other plastics. Learn more at PlasticsRecycling.org.

NAPCOR member Plastipak has an informative website about PET and HDPE recycling, including videos. Learn more at Recycling Counts.

Are you a recycling educator? Our video above is a good starting place so feel free to use and share it, but we also encourage you to check out Waste Hero resources which includes materials that you can use in the classroom. Click the link here.