Last year, PET to PET Recycling Austria (Müllendorf, Austria; www.pet2pet.at) recycled 32,900 t of PET material from around 1.3 bn bottles, 20% more than in 2021. The increase was due partly because the pandemic had subsided, which led to more purchases of drinks in PET bottles, a company spokesperson told Plasteurope.com.

Additionally, PET to PET, whose shares are held by beverage groups Coca-Cola HBC Austria, Egger, Rauch, S. Spitz, and Vöslauer Mineralwasser, expanded production capacity in 2022. Dosing controls in the two granulation lines were renewed, and it built a third loading silo. In 2023, the company plans to install a photovoltaic system to supply the site with green electricity with a maximum output of 1.2 MW.

Related: Packaging collection at a constant level in Austria

Meanwhile, Austria’s leading collection system for packaging, Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA, Vienna; www.ara.at), said it scooped up a total of more than 1 mn t of packaging and waste paper from private households in 2022, with plastic and lightweight packaging accounting for 176,000 t.

From 2023 onwards, the collection of lightweight packaging in Austria has been unified. Under the new system, ARA expects a 20% increase in plastic packaging for 2023. The step, however, is also necessary to meet EU recycling targets – a rate of 50% by 2025 – ARA said.