Mineral water and soft drink makers promised to increase the share of recycled plastics in bottles to 50% by 2030 and each company will launch its own campaign to promote the selective collection of packaging, the industry representative group MAGYUSZ said on January 21. The mineral water industry was the first among Hungarian food industry sectors to make sustainability commitments.
Since 2010, the average weight of PET bottles has been reduced by 20%. Plastic bottles account for 3% of all packaging waste in Hungary. Members of the association paid HUF3bn (€9mn) in environmental product fees, used for selective collection of waste.
The association argued for the creation of a PET bottle recycling plant and called for incentives to support the expansion of recycled packaging materials.
MAGYUSZ represents more than 95% of Hungarian mineral water bottlers and about 80% of soft drink and fruit juice bottlers. Member companies, employing 4,000 people, generated HUF250bn in production value.
Mineral water consumption in Hungary has accelerated at a rapid pace in the last 20 years and is one of the highest in Europe. Consumption surged from 40 litres per head to 111 litres by 2008. In 2018 the figure was 126 litres.
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