The recycling of plastic packaging increased slightly in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to the GVM Recycling Balance.
According to the Society for Packaging Market Research (GVM), the material recycling rate for plastic packaging increased by five percentage points compared to the previous year. Of 3.17 million tons of plastic packaging, around 60.5 percent was recycled in 2020, according to the still preliminary figures. Consumption was down minimally from the previous year, when it was 3.18 million tons, according to GVM. The recycling rate of PET bottles is particularly high, according to the balance sheet. It was almost 98 percent in 2020. GVM noted an above-average increase in recycling for plastic packaging from commercial sources: while the total volume here fell slightly from 1.132 to 1.125 million tons, the recycling rate rose by 12.3 percentage points to 56.2 percent, corresponding to a recycled volume of 632,000 tons. Across all material fractions, the recycling rate also increased slightly by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year to 81.6 percent, according to GVM figures.
According to the Society for Packaging Market Research (GVM), the material recycling rate for plastic packaging increased by five percentage points compared to the previous year. Of 3.17 million tons of plastic packaging, around 60.5 percent was recycled in 2020, according to the still preliminary figures. Consumption was down minimally from the previous year, when it was 3.18 million tons, according to GVM. The recycling rate of PET bottles is particularly high, according to the balance sheet. It was almost 98 percent in 2020. GVM noted an above-average increase in recycling for plastic packaging from commercial sources: while the total volume here fell slightly from 1.132 to 1.125 million tons, the recycling rate rose by 12.3 percentage points to 56.2 percent, corresponding to a recycled volume of 632,000 tons. Across all material fractions, the recycling rate also increased slightly by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year to 81.6 percent, according to GVM figures.
