Overview of the scale of PET material recycling.

That’s a new record.Compared to other recyclables, the overall recycling rate of plastics lags far behind. But PET is the shining star of recycled plastics.

A new report from the National Association of PET Container Resources and the Association for Post-Consumer Plastic Recycling shows that 1.798 billion pounds of post-consumer PET containers were recycled last year.

That includes 1.329 billion pounds bought by domestic recyclers, 456 million pounds in export markets and 12.5 million pounds shipped abroad as part of mixed resin bales, the groups said.

“The demand for recycled PET continues to grow, with domestic use in bottles, polyester fibers and other applications increasing year on year,” NAPCOR Chairman Tom Busard said in a statement.

While collections are up year on year, the PET recycling industry is not without challenges, the groups said.

These obstacles include PET bottle recycling lagging behind demand as recycling capacity exceeds 2 billion pounds. Pollution of non-PET materials and the growth of non-recyclable packaging have also contributed to the decline in PET packaging production, the groups said.