Precious Anga
Lagos — Expanded recycling and greater use of recycled PET, could reduce the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions intensity of PET beverage bottles in the United States by 57% by 2050, according to a new decarbonisation roadmap released by the National Association for PET Container Resources, NAPCOR,.
The roadmap projects that total annual emissions from the US PET beverage bottle sector could fall by 42%, from about 3.3 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2023 to approximately 1.9 million tonnes by 2050, even as PET production volumes increase.
NAPCOR identified higher recycling rates, increased recycled content, lighter bottle designs, greater use of renewable energy and improvements in manufacturing efficiency as the main drivers of the projected emissions reduction.
Significant reductions are expected before 2050. Emissions intensity from producing 16.9-ounce PET water bottles could fall by about 44% by 2035 from the 2023 baseline, while emissions from carbonated soft-drink bottles could decline by between 35% and 43% over the same period.
The roadmap found that lightweighting and renewable energy would deliver the largest emissions reductions, although improved collection systems, higher recycling rates and greater use of rPET would remain important to achieving longer-term reductions.
“PET is the most circular polymer and one of the best materials for packaging, and it will get even better by reducing its carbon emissions,” NAPCOR technical director Shankar Prabhushankar said.
The study assumes that recycled content in PET bottles could approach 100% over the long term, while collection and recycling rates rise to about 60%. However, the US PET recycling rate is currently about 40%, significantly below the 80% to 90% range recorded in some Western European and Asian markets.
Prabhushankar said stronger cooperation among industry players, regulators and policymakers would be required to improve collection rates and provide recyclers with reliable supplies of high-quality PET bales, which would support further investment in recycling capacity.
The roadmap also treats PET recycling as a manufacturing and supply-chain issue rather than solely a waste-management strategy. Increasing the volume of PET bottles recovered for recycling could expand domestic supplies of recycled feedstock, strengthen US manufacturing and improve supply-chain resilience.
NAPCOR said the roadmap could also support the development of extended producer responsibility, EPR, programmes, including fee structures that vary according to the recyclability of packaging. The assessment was developed by environmental consulting firm Eastern Research Group and covers four major US PET beverage bottle formats, building on a peer-reviewed, ISO-compliant lifecycle assessment completed in 2023.
