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In 2024, the recycling rate increased by 14%! The current status, challenges, and development of PET recycling in Brazil

Recycled PET New Horizons 2025-03-31 10:31:27

According to a report by Toda Palavra, a partner of BRICS TV, Brazil's PET recycling volume saw a significant increase in 2024, surging by 14% compared to the previous year, reaching a total of 410,000 tons. In 2022, the figure stood at 359,000 tons.

In 2021, Brazil recycled 56.4% of all PET packaging discarded by the public. From 2016 to 2021, the compound annual growth rate of recycled volume was approximately 8%.

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Challenges in PET Recycling in Brazil

In 2024, 37% of the recycled PET resin was converted into new packaging, primarily for bottled water, soft drinks, energy drinks, and other non-alcoholic beverages. Following closely was the textile industry, which utilized 24% of the resin, while the chemical industry and laminated boards and sheets each accounted for 13%. Strapping used for packaging and sealing boxes made up 10%. Government policies and active consumer participation have played a key role in driving these recycling efforts, aimed at minimizing environmental harm and maximizing resource recovery.

Despite the continuous growth in PET recycling in Brazil, the industry still faces some challenges:

Insufficient raw material supply: The Brazilian recycled PET market is facing problems with a lack of raw material supply, as the prices of post-consumer PET bales continue to rise against the backdrop of more competitively priced virgin resin imports from Southeast Asia.

Profit Pressure: The price increase of recycled transparent PET flakes has put recyclers under tremendous profit pressure.

Policy Restrictions: In January 2025, the Brazilian government officially implemented a ban on solid waste imports, including restrictions on plastic waste, making raw material import channels unstable. Additionally, to protect the domestic market and strengthen local production, the Brazilian Chemical Industry Association proposed increasing import tariffs on PET.

This growth not only reflects Brazil's continuous efforts in sustainable development but also highlights the significant progress the country has made in recycling infrastructure and public environmental awareness.

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Integration and Expansion of Brazil's rPET Industry

Brazil produced 939,000 tons of post-consumer recycled resin in 2023, with rPET accounting for 41.1% of the share.

In September 2024, Singapore-based investment management firm Circular Capital invested in Brazilian PET recycling, integrating the businesses of two bottle-to-bottle recyclers, GlobalPET Reciclagem and Green PCR, into a new company called Cirklo. Cirklo will become Brazil's largest independent recycler, processing over 4 billion PET bottles annually.

Indorama Ventures has announced the completion of the expansion of its PET recycling plant in Brazil, increasing its recycling capacity from 9,000 tons per year to 25,000 tons. The company invested $20 million to optimize the processes at its Brazilian facility, adding new equipment such as washing machinery to remove labels, crushing bottles in water, and reducing water consumption by 70%.

Indorama Ventures has also collaborated with AMB Spa to develop a new technology that can convert post-consumer PET trays into films suitable for food packaging trays, aiming to divert over 150 million post-consumer PET trays from landfills or incineration by the end of 2025.

Cirklo is the largest independent rPET recycler in Brazil, formed by the merger of two leading plastic recycling companies, Green PCR and Global PET, acquired by EB Capital. It can recycle 4 billion PET bottles annually.

A research team from the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil conducted chemical recycling of PET waste through alkaline hydrolysis and glycolysis. The alkaline hydrolysis method can achieve a high yield of terephthalic acid (TPA) at mild reaction conditions, with a yield of up to 97%. Glycolysis can be performed at a relatively low temperature and in a shorter reaction time, with a yield of bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) of 75%.

The development consortium formed by Engel and other companies has introduced a production cell for batch production that uses up to 100% rPET to manufacture thin-wall packaging via injection molding.

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Brazilian Policies and Market Dynamics

In December 2024, the Brazilian government issued a regulation allowing the import of plastic waste for recycling, but this regulation has not yet been coordinated with the new solid waste import ban, leading to uncertainty in customs inspections of imported PET sheets.

Brazil's PET recycling rate ranks among the highest in the world, reaching 56.4% in 2021. With the increasing awareness of consumers and the continuous development of regulations, Brazil's PET recycling industry will continue to maintain a growth trend.

In summary, the recycled PET market in Brazil has made significant progress in terms of collection volumes and application areas, but still faces challenges such as inadequate raw material supply and profit pressure. In the future, with the growth in market demand, industry consolidation, and technological innovation, Brazil's recycled PET market is expected to continue its growth trajectory.

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In 2024, the recycling rate increased by 14%! The current status, challenges, and development of PET recycling in Brazil

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