THE CONTINUING TRUTH ABOUT PET

In its everyday form PET packaging provides an excellent barrier to gases and water vapour which keeps content fresh and untainted for many, many months. PET minimises the use of fossil fuels during manufacture, forming, transport and storage.

There are many more products that can be packaged in PET. Perhaps we in industry are not communicating effectively with our value chain (internal) and our final customers (external).

Petcore has devoted a significant amount of time to updating our communications strategy. We want to be in tune with our world of today. After industry consultation Petcore has put together a factual document called PET Profile which extols the tangible and positive benefits of PET and the reasons for its success. Too often the media concentrate only on emotional and negative aspects of purchasing products that are protected and packaged in PET.

Petcore has devoted two of its PETPlanet Columns to countering the ill-informed media stories about PET that are presented as fact. PET does not leach cancer-forming chemicals and PET does not leach oestrogenic compounds. PET does not contain or form Bisphenol A (BPA) or phthalates. Incidentally, BPA and phthalates are some of the most widely studied and understood chemicals in the world. A simple examination of the rigorous EU risk assessments and studies by other internationally respected scientific bodies have consistently demonstrated the safety of BPA and food contact phthalates for their current uses.

Petcore has recognised that we need to do more to share the truth about PET with the wider public. It won’t be easy as bad news and sensational claims make far more interesting stories, but we are trying. Petcore and the British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) worked together on a campaign launched in September 2009 entitled PET Plastic Bottles – The Facts, Not Myths [1].

Petcore is developing a communication strategy aimed at presenting PET in a way that will help educate our stakeholders, the media, the pressure groups and politicians with honest, science-based facts about PET. Petcore has shared this strategic vision with European and North American industry PET (and other plastics) stakeholders. We have discovered there is a real enthusiasm for our strategy and an agreement that we can share our studies and campaigns to publicise the truth about PET.

PET is a global business and we face many common issues, usually driven by ignorance of the facts or narrow agendas.