The overall collection rate of PET across Europe rose 2.5% - from 46% to 48.4% - to a total of 1.4m tonnes, according to new figures from industry body Petcore.

Collections of PET bottles rose by more than 8% to 1.4m tonnes, said the organisation.

Roberto Bertaggia, chairman of the Petcore board, says he is pleased the collection rate is now nearly 50% of all PET bottles on the market.

“For the collection of PET bottles in Europe to increase by more than 8% in such difficult circumstances in such difficult economic circumstances is a real achievement,” he added.

Sales of flake to the PET sheet market represented 27% of usage, while 22% went to blowmoulding and 7% went to strapping applications. The 2009 share of fibres as an end use of recycled PET flake decreased from 45% to 40%, although the tonnage remained the same.