Silgan’s packages aim to protect and preserve our customers’ products, delivering these products to consumers in their
desired condition while being mindful of the associated environmental impacts throughout the product lifecycle.
Facts About Today’s
Plastic Bottle Lifecycle
- The PET recycling rate hit a record high of 28% in 2009
- The use of Recycled PET (RPET) in food, beverage, and non-food PET containers increased 37% from 2008 to 2009
- There was a 44% increase in the use of RPET in food and beverage bottles, and a 22% increase overall in RPET use in packaging applications
- The HDPE recycling rate for 2009 was 29%
- Every ton of plastic bottles recycled saves about 3.8 barrels of oil
- Plastic bottles with either a
or a 
represent nearly 96% of all plastic bottles and containers used in the U.S.
- According to a Life Cycle Inventory study based on the U.S. EPA data on tonnage
of postconsumer PET & HDPE recovered in 2008, the energy required to collect, sort and domestically reprocess
the tonnage into cleaned recycled resin is 71 trillion Btu less than the amount of energy that would be required to produce the equivalent tonnage of virgin PET and HDPE resin
About PCR, Recycling &
Bio Resins at Silgan
- We use resins that can be recycled in today’s recycling streams and produce bottles from 5% up to 100% Post-consumer Recycled (PCR) content in both PET and HDPE resins
- We process HDPE tri-layer bottles allowing customers to sandwich PCR in the middle layer while avoiding product contact and allowing for a pristine outer layer and optimum shelf appeal
- In 2010, we utilized 7.9 million lbs of PCR
- Scrap material either goes back into our production process through a closed loop system or is sold to recyclers for other purposes such as paint cans and drainage pipe
- Silgan continues to monitor and test bio resin alternatives