subject: PET bottle recycling [print this page] PET bottle recycling PET bottle recycling
Usage of PET
PET is used as a raw material for making packaging materials such as bottles and containers for packaging a wide range of food products and other consumer goods. Examples include soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, detergents, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products and edible oils. PET is one of the most common consumer plastics used.
Process
Recycling bins usually include one for glass and/or plastic bottles, such as this one in Singapore
Post-consumer waste
The empty PET packaging is discarded by the consumer after use and becomes PET waste. In the recycling industry, this is referred to as "post-consumer PET." Many local governments and waste collection agencies have started to collect post-consumer PET separately from other household waste. The collected post-consumer PET is taken to recycling centres known as materials recovery facilities (MRF) where it is sorted and separated from other materials such as metal, objects made out of other rigid plastics such as PVC, HDPE, polypropylene, flexible plastics such as those used for bags (generally low density polyethylene), drink cartons, and anything else which is not made out of PET.
Sorting
Post-consumer PET is often sorted into different colour fractions: transparent or uncoloured PET, blue and green coloured PET, and the remainder into a mixed colours fraction. The emergence of new colours (such as amber for plastic beer bottles) further complicates the sorting process for the recycling industry.
Processing for sale
Bales of crushed PET bottles
This sorted post-consumer PET waste is crushed, pressed into bales and offered for sale to recycling companies. Transparent post-consumer PET attracts higher sales prices compared to the blue and green fractions. The mixed colour fraction is the least valuable.
Further treatment
Recycling companies will further treat the post-consumer PET by shredding the material into small fragments. These fragments still contain residues of the original content, shredded paper labels and plastic caps. These are removed by different processes, resulting in pure PET fragments, or "PET flakes". PET flakes are used as the raw material for a range of products that would otherwise be made of polyester. Examples include polyester fibres (a base material for the production of clothing, pillows, carpets, etc), polyester sheets, strapping, or back into PET bottles etc.
Global statistics
Worldwide, approximately 4.53 million tons of PET were collected in 2007. This gave 3.64 million tons of flake. 2.6 million tons were used to produce fibre, 0.3 million tons to produce bottles, 0.37 million tons to produce APET sheet for thermoforming, 0.17 million tons to produce strapping tape and 0.12 million tons for miscellaneous applications. (Source: PCI)
Petcore, the European trade association that fosters the collection and recycling of PET, reported that in Europe alone, 1.26 million tonnes of PET bottles were collected in 2008 - more than 46% of all bottles. After exported bales were taken into account, 0.803 million tons of PET flake were produced. 0.36 million tons were used to produce fibres, 0.163 million tons to produce more bottles, 0.177 million tons to produce APET sheets, 0.088 million tons for strapping tape and 0.012 million tons for miscellaneous applications. (Source: PCI for Petcore)
Re-use of PET bottles
PET bottles are also recycled as-is (re-used) for use in solar water disinfection in developing nations, in which empty PET bottles are filled with water and left in the sun to allow disinfection by ultraviolet radiation. PET is useful for this purpose because most other materials (including glass) that are transparent to visible light are opaque to ultraviolet radiation. For detailed information, see http://www.sodis.ch/index
See also
Plastic recycling
References
External links
PET-Power explains how the recycling process works
Categories: RecyclingHidden categories: Articles lacking sources from April 2008 | All articles lacking sources
