PetStar | World Engineering Day

Circular certainty

PetStar is leading the drive towards a circular economy by recycling millions of bottles made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) into high-quality, food-grade resin that can be moulded afresh into new bottles. Founded in 1995, the Mexican company oversees the nationwide collection and recycling strategy for its shareholders – a group of seven major soft drink manufacturers from the Coca-Cola Bottling System led by Arca Continental and Coca-Cola México.

The company’s sustainable business model is about more than recycling plastic, says PetStar Director of Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability, Carlos Mendieta Zerón. “PetStar provides certainty to the thousands of people who work every day in waste recovery,” Mendieta Zerón explains. “Using our infrastructure, we collect the material and buy it, so they can have certainty about their income.”

Start small, finish big

Working with small waste and recycling enterprises across the country, PetStar collects an estimated five billion tons of PET bottles annually, the equivalent to seven out of every ten drinks bottles that its shareholders, led by Arca Continental, alongside Coca-Cola México, Bepensa Bebidas, Corporación del Fuerte, Grupo RICA, Grupo Embotellador Nayar, and Embotelladora de Colima, bottlers from the Coca-Cola Bottling System in Mexico put into the market. The company has operated the world’s largest food-grade PET recycling plant since 2014, and produces more than 80,000 tonnes of food-grade resin every year.

PetStar’s resin is the first, and still the only, recycled plastic resin in the world to carry the “Cradle to Cradle” certification – a global standard that requires strict levels of environmental health and safety, material reuse, renewable energy use, water use, and the promotion of social justice.

“For 30 years, we have benefited families, communities in Mexico, and the planet through our sustainable business model,” says Jaime Cámara, CEO of PetStar. “Through our circular economy of PET bottles, we make a difference at every stage of the process, from bottle collection to incorporating recycled food-grade PET into our packaging.”

To this end, the company has been carbon neutral since 2020. Some 66% of PetStar’s energy comes from renewable sources and its processes use 90% less water than resin produced from scratch.

Responsible recycling

In addition to its primary recycling activities, PetStar values its role as a responsible business with community well-being and social mobility at its core. The company works closely with organizations such as Mayama, Boys and Girls Clubs, and the Dibujando un Mañana (Drawing a Tomorrow) Foundation, which promotes the social growth and development of vulnerable girls, boys, and adolescents across Mexico.

“Working with partners such as PetStar, who share our dream, has allowed us to reach an annual average of 600 children, adolescents, and young people who are the sons and daughters of waste pickers and urban recyclers,” says Alexandra María Clavijo Guerra, the Director of Institutional Development and Communication at the Dibujando un Mañana Foundation.

What does a sustainable future look like?

For 30 years, PetStar’s sustainable business model has systemically tackled climate change, biodiversity loss, and waste, working towards a circular economy model to achieve a world with greater social inclusion, and free from plastic pollution.

PetStar’s use of recycled materials is key to making this a reality, demonstrating the company’s commitment to SDG 12, which aims to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

“Embracing our philosophy of sustainability and working in partnership with conviction and passion, we can contribute to the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” says Mendieta Zerón.