More than 60 billion PET bottles were recycled in 2012, according to Petcore Europe, a non-profit European trade association based in Belgium.
Petcore chairman Roberto Bertaggia said the consumption of PET bottles is showing clear trends of penetration into new market segments despite the poor economic situation in the European region.
"From a sustainability perspective, our industry is thrilled to have achieved an overall collection rate in 2012 of more than 52% of all post-consumer PET bottles available in the region," Bertaggia added.
The overall collection of PET bottles in Europe rose to 1.68mt, reflecting an increase of 5.6% compared to the previous year.
This has helped to ease the recyclers' overcapacity situation with an average plant usage of 80%.
