PET bottle recycling

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Bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET, sometimes PETE) can be "recycled" to reuse the
material out of which they are made and to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills. PET is
semiporous and absorbs molecules of the food or beverage contained, and the residue is difficult to
remove: Heating the plastic enough for sterilization would destroy it. Therefore, most recycled bottles
are used to make lower grade products, such as carpets.[citation needed] To make a food grade plastic, the
bottles need to be hydrolysed down to monomers, which are purified and then re-polymerised to
make new PET. In many countries, PET plastics are coded with the resin identification code number
"1" inside the universal recycling symbol, usually located on the bottom of the container.

Contents
[hide]

 1Usage of PET
 2Process
o 2.1Post-consumer waste
o 2.2Sorting
o 2.3Processing for sale
o 2.4Further treatment
 3Melt filtration
 4Drying Polyester
 5Global statistics
 6Re-use of PET bottles
 7See also
 8References
 9External links

Usage of PET[edit]
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.[1] Polyethylene terephthalate can also be used as
the main material in making water-resistant paper.[2]

Process[edit]
"1-PETE" resin identification code[3]

Post-consumer waste[edit]
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. Besides that there is container deposit legislation in some countries which also applies to
PET bottles.
It is debatable whether exporting circulating resources that damages the domestic recycling industry
is acceptable or not.[4] In Japan, overseas market pressure led to a significant cost reduction in the
domestic market. The cost of the plastics other than PET bottles remained high.

Recycling bins usually include one for glass and/or plastic

Reverse vending machine for empty beverage cans and
bottles, such as Urban Environmental Management and
PET bottles in an Aldi supermarket in Germany.
Technology in Singapore.

Sorting[edit]
When the PET bottles are returned to an authorized redemption center, or to the original seller in
some jurisdictions, the deposit is partly or fully refunded to the redeemer. In both cases 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, glass, and anything else which is not made out of PET.
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.

Bales of crushed PET bottles sorted

PET bottles are separated from other
according to color: blue, transparent, Bales of crushed PET bottles.
plastics in a materials recovery facility.
and green.

Processing for sale[edit]

The sorted post-consumer PET waste is crushed, pressed into bales and offered for sale to recycling
companies. Colourless/light blue post-consumer PET attracts higher sales prices than the darker
blue and green fractions. The mixed color fraction is the least valuable.
Further treatment[edit]
The further treatment process includes crushing, washing, separating and drying. Recycling
companies 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.

Melt filtration[edit]
Melt filtration is typically used to remove contaminants from polymer melts during the extrusion
process.[5] There is a mechanical separation of the contaminants within a machine called a ‘screen
changer’. A typical system will consist of a steel housing with the filtration medium contained in
moveable pistons or slide plates that enable the processor to remove the screens from the extruder
flow without stopping production. The contaminants are usually collected on woven wire screens
which are supported on a stainless steel plate called a ‘breaker plate’ -- a strong circular piece of
steel drilled with large holes to allow the flow of the polymer melt. For the recycling of polyester it is
typical to integrate a screen changer into the extrusion line. This can be in a pelletizing, sheet
extrusion or strapping tape extrusion line.

Drying Polyester[edit]
PET polymer is very sensitive to hydrolytic degradation, resulting in severe reduction in its molecular
weight, thereby adversely affecting its subsequent melt processability. Therefore, it is essential to
dry the PET flakes or granules to a very low moisture level prior to melt extrusion.
PET must be dried to <100 parts per million (ppm) moisture and maintained at this moisture level to
minimize hydrolysis during melt processing.[6]
Dehumidifying Drying - These types of dryers circulate hot and de-humidified dry air onto the resin,
suck the air back, dry it and then pump again in a closed loop operation. This process reduces
moisture level in the PET down to 50ppm or lower. The efficiency of moisture removal depends on
the air dew point. If the air dew point is not good, then some moisture remains in the chips and
cause IV loss during processing.

IRD drying drum used for the drying of Polyester pellets and polyester bottle flakes

Infrared Drying polyester pellets and flakes - A new type of dryer has been introduced in recent
years, using Infrared drying (IRD). Due to the high rate of energy transfer with IR heating in
combination with the specific wavelength used, the energy costs involved with these systems can be
greatly reduced, along with the size. Polyester can be dried and amorphous flake crystallized and
dried within only about 15 minutes down to a moisture level of approx. 300ppm in one step, and
down to <50 ppm using a buffer hopper to complete the drying in typically under 1 hour

Global statistics[edit]

Dog raincoat made from 100% recycled PET fabric.

Worldwide, approximately 7.5 million tons of PET were collected in 2011. This gave 5.9 million tons
of flake. In 2009 3.4 million tons were used to produce fibre, 500,000 tons to produce bottles,
500,000 tons to produce APET sheet for thermoforming, 200,000 tons to produce strapping tape and
100,000 tons for miscellaneous applications.[7]
Petcore, the European trade association that fosters the collection and recycling of PET, reported
that in Europe alone, 1.6 million tonnes of PET bottles were collected in 2011 - more than 51% of all
bottles. After exported bales were taken into account, 1.12 million tons of PET flake were produced.
440,000 tons were used to produce fibres, 283,000 tons to produce more bottles, 278,000 tons to
produce APET sheets, 102,000 tons for strapping tape and 18,000 tons for miscellaneous
applications. (Source: PCI for Petcore and EuPR)
In 2008 the amount of post-consumer PET bottles collected for recycling and sold in the United
States was approx. 1.45 billion pounds.[8]
In 2012, 81% of the PET bottles sold in Switzerland were recycled.[9]
Increasing energy prices may increase the volume of recycling PET bottles.[8] In Europe, the EU
Waste Framework Directive mandates that by 2020 there should be 50% recycling or reuse of
plastics from household streams.[8]
In the United States the recycling rate for PET packaging was 31.2% in 2013, according to a report
from The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) and The Association of
Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR). A total of 1,798 million pounds was collected and 475 million
pounds of recycled PET used out of a total of 5,764 million pounds of PET bottles.[10]
PET bottles recycle-rate globally[11]

Japan US Europe India [12]

72％ 29％ 48％ 90%

Re-use of PET bottles[edit]

PET bottles are also recycled as-is (re-used) for various purposes, including for use in school
projects, and 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 many other materials (including window glass) that are transparent to visible
light are opaque to ultraviolet radiation.[13]
A novel use is as a building material in third-world countries. According to online sources, the
bottles, in a labor-intensive process, are filled with sand, then stacked and either mudded or
cemented together to form a wall. Some of the bottles can be filled instead with air or water, to admit
light into the structure.