In July 2026, NAPCOR reports record PET thermoform recovery in 2024, but declining recycled-content use exposes processing challenges and weak domestic demand.
PET thermoform recovery in the U.S. and Canada reached a record 264 million lb in 2024, according to a new market analysis from the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR). Yet the amount of recycled PET going back into new thermoforms moved in the opposite direction. Thermoform converters purchased more than 2.05 billion lb of PET feedstock during the year, with virgin resin accounting for 79% of the total. The share of post-consumer recycled PET fell from 18% in 2023 to 12% in 2024.
The current figures depict a persistent weakness in PET thermoform circularity. More trays, cups, clamshells, tubs, and other thermoforms are being recovered, but relatively little of that material is returning to the same type of packaging. These findings come from NAPCOR’s first standalone and fifth annual "PET Thermoform Market Analysis," which examines production, recovery, recycled-content use, end markets, and policy developments. The report also shows how closely thermoform recycling remains connected to the PET bottle recycling system.
The 264 million-lb recovery figure is the highest NAPCOR has recorded, although the year-over-year increase cannot be attributed entirely to greater collection.
As Lauren Laibach, director of data services at NAPCOR, explains, improvements in the organization’s data collection probably contributed to the increase. NAPCOR added cross-checks to its 2024 survey of reclaimers to capture thermoform content that may have been missed in previous years.
The collection also expanded in some areas. Rumpke Waste & Recycling, for example, began explicitly accepting PET thermoforms in additional communities in response to demand from Eastman for feedstock for its advanced molecular recycling process. “It’s hard to quantify how much of the year-over-year increase from 2023 can be attributed to each cause, but both likely drove it,” Laibach says. The results clearly state that more thermoforms are trying to reach the recycling facilities. The procedure to be followed after collection is the complicated one.
The recovered PET thermoforms are processed with PET bottles instead of dedicated thermoform streams. The arrangement allows the thermoforms to access the established recycling systems, along with introducing materials that many bottle reclamation facilities were not designed to handle in bulk quantities. According to Srinivasan Prabhushankar, technical director at NAPCOR, the average concentration of thermoforms in curbside PET bales has moved beyond the levels many mechanical reclaimers prefer.
Thermoforms can generate greater yield losses and material-quality concerns compared to bottles. Higher concentrations add to costs and operating challenges for an industry already dealing with difficult market conditions and the closure of domestic reclamation facilities. “There are very real limitations to how much economic pain mechanical reclaimers can withstand,” says Prabhushankar.
Different types of physical and material differences make thermoforms harder to process. Compared with bottles, they can have irregular shapes, greater bulk, lower intrinsic viscosity, lower crystallinity, and different flake density after grinding. They also produce more fines and dust. Lookalike packaging made from other resins may contaminate the PET stream, while labels and aggressive adhesives may be difficult to remove during washing. Such challenges also act as a barrier to reducing usable output and make it harder for reclaimers to meet end-market specifications.
Technology can easily help to deal with many such issues. Advanced optical sorting can help to remove lookalike packages, enhanced wash care systems can help to improve adhesive removal, and solid-state polymerization can increase intrinsic viscosity. The results also depend on each reclaimer’s equipment, process configuration, and customer requirements.
Chemical recycling also offers another outlet option. Prabhushankar said PET thermoforms can be a desirable feedstock for those processes, potentially creating a better path for some recovered material while reducing pressure on mechanical bottle reclaimers.
Despite the record recovery volume, recycled-content use in new thermoforms declined during 2024. That change was influenced partly by growth in food and foodservice packaging rather than a broad reduction in PCR use across every thermoform application.
Food packaging represented approximately 79% of reported PET thermoform sales. According to Laibach, significantly more pounds were sold into food and foodservice applications in 2024, and those packages used less recycled content on average than non-food and non-medical applications. The average recycled-content rate, therefore, fell as lower-PCR applications made up a larger portion of the market.
Record thermoform recovery shows that more material is entering the recycling stream. Converting that progress into circularity will also require packages designed for existing systems, investment in sorting and processing, and dependable North American demand for the recovered resin.
10 August 2026
07 August 2026
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06 August 2026