Yucatan PET Center Recovers 298 Million Bottles

ECOCE showcased the PET recovery and recycling infrastructure operating in Yucatan, where the PetStar collection center in Uman recovered 298 million PET bottles during 2025, equivalent to more than 800,000 bottles per day and nearly 34,000 per hour. The center’s recovery chain also generated about 1,000 indirect jobs linked to urban recyclers and collection centers across the state.

The technical tour, organized by ECOCE as part of its Circular Journey initiative, included visits to the PetStar Uman collection center and Coca-Cola Bepensa’s Pacabtun plant. The tour highlighted the PET value chain, from source separation and collection to processing and the reincorporation of recycled material into new production cycles, as well as the role of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in Mexico’s food and beverage industry.

“That bottle that a person properly disposes of does not become a new container on its own. Behind it is a chain of collaboration involving citizens, collection centers, waste managers, recyclers, industry and authorities that makes the circular economy possible,” says Carla Gamboa, Communications Director, ECOCE.

PET Recovery Infrastructure

At the PetStar Uman collection center, participants learned about the role of source separation, urban recyclers and collection infrastructure in preserving the value of PET containers and returning them to productive cycles.

The facility also presented the Salón Vive PetStar Mérida, a recently inaugurated space designed to explain the company’s Bottle-to-Bottle model and the role of each participant in the circular economy system.

The tour also covered PetStar’s recycling operations and the technical standards applied to its recycled PET resin, which has Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Circular Economy certification.

“The great differentiator of our model is that it integrates the entire chain, from collection to recycling. Since 2013, PetStar has had the world's largest food-grade PET recycling plant, but it is essential to develop a system that allows containers to be recovered and kept within the economy,” says Carlos Mendieta, Public Affairs Director,  PetStar.

PetStar is part of the Mexican Coca-Cola Industry, while Bepensa is a PetStar shareholder. Through its facilities in Yucatan, Bepensa presented the infrastructure and partnerships supporting the recovery and transformation of post-consumer packaging.

Bepensa Expands Circularity Initiatives

At the Coca-Cola Bepensa Pacabtun plant, company representatives presented initiatives including Holbox Circular and Allies for Recycling, which focus on collection programs and logistics infrastructure in southeastern Mexico.

Bepensa also outlined its approach to incorporating recycling into its business strategy, including investments in innovation and technologies designed to improve operational efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. Among these measures is the use of electric vehicles on distribution routes.

“For us, sustainability is not a parallel program or an act of philanthropy; it is integrated into our business strategy. We seek to generate economic value while strengthening our environmental and social performance,” says Agustín Menéndez, Public Affairs, Communications, and Sustainability Director, Bepensa. The company also addressed the challenges of expanding circularity to materials with different technical characteristics and the need for investment, infrastructure and technological development to increase the recovery and reuse of post-consumer materials.

The Circular Journey also included a beach cleanup in Progreso, organized in coordination with Yucatan’s Ministry of Sustainable Development (SDS), the Limpiemos Yucatán (Let’s Clean Yucatan) program and the Progreso municipal government.

Participants subsequently visited waste management company SIGER to learn about the classification and compaction of recovered materials. The activities highlighted the coordination required among consumers, collection centers, waste managers, recyclers, companies, and government authorities to maintain materials within productive cycles.