The European PET sector is at a crossroads. While policymakers set higher minimum recycled content targets and place the circular economy at the heart of the Green Deal, producers of both primary PET and high-quality recyclate are struggling to stay in business. Antonello Ciotti, president of industry association Petcore Europe, told the KI+PIE publishing group in a recent interview that the sector was now "in a fight for survival".
Mr Ciotti is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in the European PET industry. He has led Petcore Europe since 2022 and has headed the Italian plastic packaging consortium Corepla since 2016. He also chairs PET Europe, a role to which he brings more than four decades of experience in the industry.
He assessment of the current situation is stark: without trade policy safeguards, without penalties for failing to meet regulatory targets, and without reliable inspections of imported recyclate, Europe would continue to yield its industrial sovereignty, and with it the ability to sustain the circular economy....
