NAPCOR is the trade association for the PET plastic industry in the US and Canada. Some of its main aims are to support the use and recycling of PET, as well as promote the environmental attributes of the material.
Environmental concerns
So by joining the trade association Sidel hopes to work more closely with other companies to advance recycling initiatives and help improve the environmental image of PET.
“We are aware that the environmental aspects of PET are not widely known, that perceptions about this material are not fully in line with reality, that the concerns that regularly come up are due to a lack of knowledge about PET’s technical characteristics, and that its recycling rate is still too low,” said Keith Boss, VP for North America, who will represent Sidel within NAPCOR.
Growing membership
Today NAPCOR has 42 members taken from different stages of the PET container life cycle, from preform manufacturers to packaging equipment companies. Its membership has grown quickly of late with 7 new companies joining in September, including Sidel and Husky Injection Molding.
Welcoming the two companies last month, NAPCOR Chairman Tom Busard said, “This steady increase in membership really speaks to the immediacy and importance of the issues of interest to the PET industry, including sustainability and recycling. So many companies are looking at what these issues mean to them – or might mean in the future.”
NAPCOR is the voice of the PET industry to the outside world, but it also helps companies get together and discuss issues of mutual concern. Its latest seminar, held in late September in Chicago, focused on environmental issues with production, technologies, and demand for recycled PET (RPET) on the agenda.