Following a slight decline in the amount of recycled PET material to 31,354 tons last year, PET to PET Recycling Austria GmbH has set a new record for the first half of 2025. A total of 18,403 tons of PET beverage bottles were successfully kept in the material flow. This represents an increase of 14.5 percent compared to the previous year (first half of 2024: 16,071 tons). A key factor in this is the introduction of the deposit system in Austria and some neighboring European countries. These systems contribute to an improvement in the material, as only beverage packaging is included in the new fraction and contaminants such as other plastic packaging and misplaced items are virtually eliminated. This results in an increase in the amount of PET beverage packaging collected, higher recyclate quality, and better recycling of PET material.
Christian Strasser, Managing Director of PET to PET: “We are convinced that responsible handling of recyclable materials is essential. By switching to the deposit system, we are making an important contribution through our work in the field of beverage packaging. Nevertheless, the framework conditions remain challenging, as secondary raw materials are still significantly more expensive than primary materials and thus counteract a well-functioning circular economy.” Thomas Billes, Managing Director of PET to PET, adds: “As a recycling company in Austria, we are increasingly confronted with competition from other European countries where it is well known that neither environmental standards nor working conditions meet European Union standards. This also leads to a distortion of the market.”
Quality adjustment in preparation for the deposit system
In the course of the transition to the deposit system, PET to PET adapted and optimized its recycling plant to the expected new quality in the first half of the year. A particular focus was placed on the detection and removal of metallic contaminants from beverage cans. The testing and sorting of foreign materials therefore continues to be an important safety component in the processing of the PET material delivered.
