New analysis reveals achieving U.S. recycled plastics goals by 2030 could cost £2.4bn

According to new analysis by Wood Mackenzie Chemicals, up to $3 billion (approximately £2.4 billion) in additional capital investment would be required to achieve current U.S. recycled plastics content goals by 2030.

Wood Mackenzie Chemicals says the U.S. recycling rate of PET bottles has historically been sluggish, with little-to-no apparent growth. In 2017, the U.S. recycling rate sat at 29.2 per cent according to NAPCOR, while the global average was estimated at just under 56 per cent. 

Wood Mackenzie Chemicals’ baseline forecast shows a slow but steady growth rate in both the U.S. recycling rate and the number of RPET bottles collected.

PET bottle consumption is projected to grow 2.5 per cent per annum through 2030, adding an additional 505kt of PET bottles by 2025 and 931kt by 2030. With current projected recycling rates of 33.3 per cent in 2025 and 36 per cent in 2030, this will add approximately 150kt and 277kt of additional recycled RPET bottles for these two periods.

Based on the projected total number of PET bottles consumed through 2030, this will add nearly 115kt of RPET recycled by 2025 and approximately 228kt by 2030. In total, Wood Mackenzie Chemicals currently projects the available pool of RPET recycled bottles to increase by approximately 265kt by 2025 and approximately 505kt by 2030.