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The PET recycling system in the United States continues to face mounting pressures, and trade disruptions due to the conflict between the U.S. and Iran are not likely to offer favorable price changes in the long term.
Recyclers and reclaimers continue to grapple with weakened end market demand due to cheaper overseas imports and stiff competition from virgin resin prices. This prolonged pressure on the rPET industry is leading to further reclaimer closures — most recently two Evergreen facilities in New York and Ohio — and could prompt MRF operators to consider stockpiling or landfilling as a result.
Continued cost imbalances and foreign import effects
North American rPET markets continue to battle against two main price factors: the very low price for virgin resin and the increase in imports of rPET from overseas.
“There is more new virgin PET plastic being produced than there ever has been in the history of the world,” and it’s being sold at notably low prices, said Kate Bailey, chief policy officer for the Association of Plastic Recyclers. “The price of virgin PET earlier this month was the same price it was in 2019,” she pointed out. “At the same time, PET recyclers are all facing increased costs, and yet we’re competing against an industry that has somehow gotten cheaper over time.”
Reclaimer closures and market interruptions continue
Prolonged challenging market conditions have led to the closure or partial closure of seven of the 30 major PET recycling facilities in the country in the last year. Recent reclaimer closures have reduced domestic recycled PET capacity by about 25%.
Evergreen Recycling announced the closure of two of its facilities in February: one in Albany, New York, and another in Clyde, Ohio, which was expected to affect a combined 247 workers.
Other reclaimer closures this past year included Alpek’s Fayetteville, North Carolina, facility in July; rPlanet Earth, which closed in California in September; and Phoenix Technologies’ Ohio facility, which closed in December. Another of Alpek’s PET facilities in Pennsylvania closed in January.
Each disruption affects the PET recycling market in different ways. “These facilities are not all the same. They’re not interchangeable. They have very different characteristics,” said Adam Gendell, director of material systems at The Recycling Partnership.
Short and long-term remedies needed
Though no one single solution will be able to magically turn market conditions around, urgent interventions are needed, speakers said. One place to start? “I think the thermoform segment deserves more attention,” Gendell said.
Thermoform manufacturers can run on flake, which is a less processed and cheaper rPET form than bottle-grade pellet, “so for short-term solutions, it’s hard not to look at the thermoforming community as one that could be doing more,” he said.
Speakers reiterated that brands also need to commit to choosing domestic sources of rPET to meet recycled content goals. “Minimum content requirements are the best tool we have in our toolbox to solve this problem,” Bailey said.
Source: Packaging Dive
Published March 30, 2026
