"Our packaging today is part of the unacceptable phenomenon of littering alongside other discarded items"
OSLO, May 15 (Reuters) - Europe's bottled water producers set a goal on Tuesday of raising collection rates of plastic bottles to 90 percent by 2025 from 60 percent to improve recycling and cut pollution.
"Our packaging today is part of the unacceptable phenomenon of littering alongside other discarded items," the European Federation of Bottled Waters said in a statement.
The Federation, which represents national associations and several major companies, said the new industry goal was to collect 90 percent of all PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles by 2025, as an average across the European Union.
Almost 60 percent of PET bottles are now collected for recycling, although with big national variations. The Federation did not say exactly how the goal would be achieved, nor did it give costs.
Some countries such as Germany impose high deposits on bottles to encourage recycling. Britain plans this year to introduce a deposit return scheme for single-use drink containers.
The Federation also said it would work with the recycling industry "to use at least 25 percent recycled PET in its water bottles by 2025, as an EU average". It says that the average EU citizen drinks about 110 litres of bottled water a year. (Reporting by Alister Doyle Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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