Background, aim, and scope This paper presents a waste management analysis of the packaging systems for soft drinks in Mexico, with emphasis on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers. The work presented is part of a project sponsored by a consortium of Mexican industries that participate in the PET market, such as resin producers, bottle manufacturers, soft drinks producers, distributors, and plastic recyclers. Two different life cycle assessments (LCAs) were elaborated to provide insight on waste management scenarios and waste products comparisons, respectively. The first LCA was a description of the actual PET market and PET waste treatment in Mexico. On the second LCA, three systems were analyzed: PET bottles, aluminum cans, and glass bottles. Currently, these results are used in Mexico as a basis for environmental policy. Materials and methods PET bottle's participation in the market has increased substantially in the previous years, and it is forecasted that this increase rate will continue. Due to this factor, there are some concerns about the environmental implications of PET usage. In order to analyze the waste management of PET bottles in Mexico, an LCA and a series of sensitivity analyses were conducted in order to understand: (1) the effect of different collecting distances in environmental impacts, (2) the effect of different recycling rates in environmental impacts, (3) the effect of different collecting rates in environmental impacts, and (4) the effect of different collecting rates with its associated distances in the environmental impacts.