Recycling of bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate
This article is about the recycling of PET bottles. For the recycling of plastics more generally, see Plastic recycling.
PET bottle recycling
Clockwise from top left:
Sorting at a material recovery facility
Bales of colour-sorted PET bottles
A reprocessing facility where used bottles are converted into clean flakes or pellets suitable for remoulding into new items
Recycled PET flakes
A water bottle made from recycled PET (bottle-to-bottle recycling)
A polyester bag made from recycled PET
A food tray made from recycled PET bearing the rPET symbol
Although PET is used in several applications (principally textile fibres for apparel and upholstery, bottles and other rigid packaging, flexible packaging and electrical and electronic goods), as of 2022 only bottles are collected at a substantial scale. The main motivations have been either cost reduction (when oil prices spike) or recycle content of retail goods (driven by regulations or public opinion). An increasing amount is recycled back into bottles, the rest goes into fibres, film, thermoformed packaging and strapping.[1]
After sorting, cleaning and grinding, 'bottle flake' is obtained, which is then processed by either:
'basic' or 'physical' recycling. Bottle flake is melted into its new shape directly with basic changes in its physical properties.[2]
'chemical' or 'advanced' recycle. Bottle flake (or possibly a less pure feedstock) is partially or totally depolymerized then enabling purification. The resulting oligomers or monomers are repolymerized to PET polymer, which is then processed in the same way as virgin polymer.
In either case, the resulting feedstock is known as "r-PET" or "RPET".[2]
^"Study: PET recycling process – bottles increasingly environmentally friendly". Newsroom.Kunststoffverpackungen. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
^ ab"R-PET: Schweizer Kreislauf – PET-Recycling". www.petrecycling.ch (in French). Retrieved 6 March 2022.
and 26 Related for: PET bottle recycling information
PETbottlerecycling Although PET is used in several applications (principally textile fibres for apparel and upholstery, bottles and other rigid packaging...
Frank (2011-09-01). "Twenty years of PETbottle to bottlerecycling—An overview". Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 55 (11): 865–875. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec...
will also be recycled this way in future. Chemistry portal BoPET (biaxially oriented PET) Bioplastic PETbottlerecycling Plastic recycling Polycyclohexylenedimethylene...
has media related to Plastic bottles. A guide to UPC label use on plastic bottles including printing (archived) PET Plastic Recycling Portal: Chemistry...
and then pushed for municipal curbside recycling as an alternative to "bottle bills". More recently, PETbottles have largely replaced other materials...
Plastic recycling Plastic recycling is the processing of plastic waste into other products. Recycling can reduce dependence on landfill, conserve resources...
consumption, recycling plastic and minimizing its carbon footprint. In 2011 they opened PETbottlerecycling operation producing bottles made from recycled plastics...
of Keio University after collecting a sample of PET-contaminated sediment at a plastic bottlerecycling facility in Sakai, Japan. The bacteria was first...
the bottles themselves saves 75 million pounds of plastic. Thinner plastic bottles are harder to recycle. The average yield of PETbottlerecycling in...
2016. "Recycling". International Bottled Water Association. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2016. "Report on Postconsumer PET Container Recycling Activity...
Plastic, paper, PETbottles, aluminium and glass are collected and recycled. Japan's country profile in Waste Atlas shows that in 2012 Recycling Rate[clarification...
Beverage can Bottled water Carboy Edible water bottle Low plastic water bottle Plastic pollution Sipper water bottle, a water dispenser for pets Refill (scheme)...
thinner glass bottles and less expensive plastic bottles and aluminum beverage cans. Though Sweden has had a standard glass bottlerecycling system since...
legislation Glass crusher Reuse of bottles Waste management Dyer, Thomas D. (2014). "Glass Recycling". Handbook of Recycling: 191–209. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-396459-5...
Bottles are often recycled according to the SPI recycling code for the material. Beer bottleBottle sling Bottle wall Bottling company Bottling (concert abuse)...
A recycling bin (or recycle bin) is a container used to hold recyclables before they are taken to recycling centers. Recycling bins exist in various sizes...
to recycling, such as ISO 15270:2008 for plastics waste and ISO 14001:2015 for environmental management control of recycling practice. Recyclable materials...
either reused or mechanically/chemically recycled. There has been a shift in recent years toward recycling textiles because of new regulations in several...
C6H2[(CO)2NR]2 which also have acceptor properties. PMDA is used in PETbottlerecycling as a chain extender. It increases the molecular weight of the polymer...
A bottle cap or bottle top is a closure for the top opening of a bottle. A cap is sometimes colorfully decorated with the logo of the brand of contents...
plastic pollution problem, when cups are disposed as litter. The curbside recycling of polypropylene containers has gradually increased in some developed...
collection, sorting and recycling of post-consumer PETbottles. It networks with national collection agencies, governments, and the recycling industry.[citation...
other symbols. The universal recycling symbol (U+2672 ♲ UNIVERSAL RECYCLING SYMBOL or U+267B ♻ BLACK UNIVERSAL RECYCLING SYMBOL in Unicode) is a symbol...
incorrectly separate the recyclable materials, or put the wrong items in the recycling bin, the whole vehicle load of recycling will have to be rejected...
Global Information
