If you pay attention at all to plastic recycling, you are probably aware of the fact that post-consumer recycling has been an abysmal failure over the last several decades. Less than 10% of all consumer plastics ever get recycled. But there is one bright spot: polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
It turns out that PET is the most recycled plastic in the world. And we recycle tons of it. It is one of the few success stories in post-consumer plastics. So what’s the deal? Why can we succeed with PET where we fail with other sorts of plastics?
More About PET
First and foremost, PET’s thermoforming capabilities make it the ideal plastic for things like water bottles and food containers. Seraphim Plastics mentions this fact in a post they published a couple of years ago. Due to this property, Seraphim Plastics says PET can be formed into an endless number of products by way of injection mold manufacturing and other processes.
PET’s properties and popularity have led to it being among the most demanded plastics, as well as being the most recycled one. Demand plays a huge role. Because we need so much PET, manufacturers are willing to invest in recycled materials alongside virgin plastic.
Seraphim Plastics says demand is key to plastic recycling. As a company that recycles post-industrial plastic scrap, Seraphim relies on stable demand. They need market demand to stay in business.
Nearly Endless Recycling
PET has another advantage in the recycling game: it can be recycled nearly endlessly. Most other plastics lose some of their integrity during the recycling process. So does PET, but not enough to make an enormous difference. Manufacturers can continually recycle the same PET water bottles over and over again without worry.
Practically speaking, that means manufacturers can use larger volumes of recycled material in the manufacturing process. With other types of plastic, like PVC for example, the ratio of recycled material versus virgin plastic needs to be more tightly controlled. Too much recycled material diminishes the integrity of the finished product.
PET is a lot more flexible that way. It is a lot more forgiving in the sense that quality is not significantly diminished by adding more recycled material to the mix. Theoretically, it’s possible to make new PET bottles from 100% recycled material without any issues.
Sorting Is a Breeze
Seraphim Plastics says that another key to their success is not having to sort and clean the plastics they recycle. They purchase industrial plastic scrap from customers who keep the scrap separate and clean on their own. All Seraphim needs to do is pick up the scrap and process it.
It’s not so easy for post-consumer recyclers. They invest a lot of time, money, and labor in sorting and cleaning. That is one of the reasons municipal recycling has been such a failure. Its labor intense and costly. But again, PET is a bright spot.
It is easy to separate PET bottles. Food service establishments can install separate bins and people will gladly throw their bottles into them. Likewise, supermarkets and department stores can install automated recycling machines that pay people to deposit their bottles. Sorting and cleaning are eliminated, allowing them to sell the recycled material at a good price.
It’s unfortunate that post-consumer recycling has been such a colossal failure. But at least recycling PET is a bright spot. We have been doing it successfully in this country for quite a while. Here’s hoping PET recycling continues. At least PET is one type of consumer plastic we can keep out of the waste stream if we really want to.