PetStar keeps Mexico’s PET bottles in the recycling loop

The PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle recycling plants operated by Mexico City-based PetStar in that nation now have an annual production of 50,000 metric tons (110 million pounds) of recycled-content resin (rPET), according to a recent media report.

The online article from Veracruz, Mexico-based El Dictamen reports the rPET is “used for the manufacture of new bottles and other products, such as fibers , shoes, brooms, jewelry and clothing.” (More information on PetStar and its process can be found in this 2015 Recycling Today profile story.)

The El Dictamen report indicates PetStar in 2018 is likely to produce 30,000 metric tons of additional resin compared to 2013, representing a 150 percent increase.

PetStar estimates it has recycled hundreds of millions of PET bottles annually in that stretch, amounting to some 70 percent of the bottles brought to market by its shareholder beverage and bottling companies: Arca Continental, Coca-Cola de México, Bepensa Bebidas, Corporación del Fuerte, Corporación Rica, Grupo Bottler Nayar and Embotelladora de Colima.

The PetStar funding and effort system has helped “Mexico become the leading country in Latin America in PET collection and recycling, recovering [and] recycling 56.3 percent of these containers within the country,” according to the report.