Coexpan commits to increasing the recycled content of its PET products to 70 percent by 2025

30 Oct 2018 --- Coexpan has endorsed the commitment announced by PET Sheet Europe, the association that brings together Europe’s leading PET sheet producers, to guarantee that their products will have a mean recycled content of 70 percent by the year 2025. This ambitious undertaking aims to meet the goals laid down in the EU Plastics Strategy while also calling upon the relevant authorities to take specific actions in terms of legislation to guarantee market stability and the sustainable growth of the industry.

The Coexpan division currently uses 50 percent recycled material in its rigid PET sheets produced primarily for the manufacture of packaging for foodstuffs, household products, personal hygiene products and other industrial applications.

Coexpan has three production plants located in Europe (Spain, Italy and Germany) that specialize in the extrusion of PET-based and rPET-based, mono-, medium- and high-barrier plastic sheet intended for food packaging and industrial applications. It also has another two plants in France specialized in thermoformed packaging that produce trays and other rPET-based products for food packaging.

Although the current percentage of recycled PET in Coexpan products surpasses the average content of the rest of Europe’s leading manufacturers (45 percent), the company is committed to continue working on new packaging solutions that, whenever possible, include recycled material, guaranteeing optimal conditions of product quality and safety and allowing the recycling goal set for the year 2025 to be reached.

“The future of packaging poses major challenges for our society. Our commitment in this direction is to design optimal and sustainable packaging solutions using the main polymers such as PS, PP, PET and PLA, that guarantee the preservation and protection of products and ensure the responsible use of our natural resources,” says Dinis Mota, Coexpan CEO.

Over the past few years PET sheet manufacturers, including Coexpan, have gradually increased the content of recycled material in their products, this way achieving a positive impact on the environment and fostering the circularity of plastics, while at the same time guaranteeing their application for food contact. 

Yesterday, the UK Chancellor outlined in the 2018 Budget speech that the UK plan to implement a tax on plastics that contain less than 30 percent recycled plastic content by April 2022.