Climate impact of the half-litre PET bottle

Over the past decade manufacturers have gradually improved the environmental performance of half-litre PET bottles. Bottle weight has been reduced, a certain amount of recycled PET is now incorporated and discarded PET bottles are to some extent recycled via the ‘Plastic Heroes’ collection system. CE Delft has calculated that these three factors have together reduced the climate impact of the average half-litre PET bottle by 37% over the past 10 years. This improvement is equivalent to avoiding the emissions associated with 46 million showers being taken. It is anticipated that with increased recycling, further weight reduction and more use of recycled PET a similar improvement will again be feasible in the coming years.