Applicability of Analytical Test Methods for rPET

Polyester (generally referred to as polyethylene terephthalate, PET) is the most widely used fiber in the global textile market, accounting for around 52% (57 MT) of the total volume of textile fibers produced in 2020¹.

Most of the recycled input was from mechanically recycled, post-consumer PET bottles. Nevertheless, demand for using recycled PET to make products is not only from the textile industry.

This paper summarizes the results of a research study performed by the UL Solutions research team and is intended to evaluate the potential of determining the recycled content in products produced from recycled PET using analytical test methods. Several chemicals have been identified as potential tracing markers and are investigated for their potential to accurately indicate the recycled content in final rPET products and in the processing stages, including the input materials and production process.