Engineering Plastic Recycling Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The engineering plastics recycling market is expected to record a CAGR of more than 7% during the forecast period (2022-2027).

The outbreak of the COVID-19 had a negative impact on the growth of the engineering plastic industry in the short term; the market is now valued at the pre-pandemic level and is expected to grow at a steady rate in the forecast period.

Key Highlights

• The major factor driving the growth of the market studied is the growing emphasis on sustainability among consumers and packaging products.
• On the flipside, difficulty in collecting and sorting mixed plastic, along with the difficulty in removing residues, is expected to hinder the growth of the market studied.
• Innovations in recycling technologies for automatic processing and sorting of plastics is expected to be a factor the market in the future beyond the forecast period (2022-2027).
• By Region, Asia-Pacific region accounted for the largest share, however, the European region is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Key Market Trends

Packaging Industry to Dominate the Market

• PET is one of the most widely used plastics for packaging applications. Apart from being food safe, PET is also strong, lightweight, transparent, and shatter-resistant. Moreover, the characteristics of PET, as an effective barrier to carbon dioxide, make it an unrivaled choice for beverage and rigid food packaging.
• At present, nearly 70% of soft drinks (carbonated drinks, still and dilatable drinks, fruit juices, and bottled water) are packaged in PET plastic bottles. Almost 500 billion PET bottles are produced globally per annum.
• Around 27 million metric ton of PET a year is used in these applications, globally, with the majority around 23 million ton used in bottles. Recycled PET can replace all or a proportion of virgin PET polymer in new packaging products.
• Recycling has been gaining traction as many major packaging companies are planning initiatives for waste management. Many companies are collecting PET bottles from domestic waste management and then processed into plastic flakes to further use it in packaging application.
• Many major brands worldwide are committed to using recycled PET to reduce the carbon footprint of their drink products. Some of these include Coca-Cola, Nestle Waters, PepsiCo, Danone, and many more. Corporations that sell soft drinks and bottled water have committed to stop using single-use plastics by 2030.
• Hence, packaging industry is expected to dominate the market.

Asia-Pacific is is One of the Major Contributors to the Engineering Plastic Recycling Market

• The Asia-Pacific region dominated the engineering plastic recycling market, which accounted for more than 50% of the market share.
• In Asia-Pacific, the majority of the demand for recycling comes from China, Japan, and India.
• China is one of the largest global consumers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The abundant availability of raw materials and the low cost of production have supported the production growth of engineering plastics, such as PET, in the country for the past few years.
• In India, with the increase in the application of plastics, the recyclate PET production is also increasing, as nearly 80% of PET bottles are recycled in the country. Many brands of footwear and garments are beginning to use polyester yarns made from recycled PET bottles.
• The market for recyclate PET is anticipated to witness growth on account of the growing textile industry. For instance, the new textile policy in India aims to achieve USD 300 billion worth of textile exports by 2024-25.
• Under these circumstances, the demand for plastic packaging products has increased tremendously in the last decade. It has been a major driver for the engineering plastic recycling market in the region.

Competitive Landscape

The engineering plastic recycling market is highly fragmented as the dominance of regional market players is extremely high. Some of the major players in the market (in no particular order) include Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, Clean Tech UK Ltd, Far Eastern New Century Corporation (Phoenix Technologies), Alpek Polyester, and Petco.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support