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The compacted bales of PET bottles are
taken apart here and undergo further se-
paration in the sorting line to eliminate resi-
dues that do not belong to the given com-
modity and would affect the quality of the
resulting product, and which could have
been mixed in during the initial sorting. The
PET bottles then pass through a complica-
ted process of multiple crushing, washing
and drying, until they are transformed into
the mentioned flakes. These are the basis
for the production of PET regranulate.
The multiple uses of PET
PET is useful for producers of wine, non-al-
coholic beverages, and oils, packing strips
and fibres used in the textile industry. The
bottle that we consume and then throw
away becomes useful again.
In fact, the bottle could now be part of your
bed since there is a high probability that the
mattress on which you sleep contains fibres
made from PET flakes. When you fry eggs
for your breakfast, you will meet the PET
bottle again: the plastic packaging for eggs
is also made from flakes. In the winter on
your way to work, you have the PET bottle
right on your body if you are wearing a flee-
ce jacket. Even here the flakes served as a
basis for textile fibre, from which the jacket
was subsequently produced. What’s more,
a winter jacket could be made with ten PET
bottles.
If you drive your car to work and put your
sports bag in the trunk, you again have your
original PET bottle in your hand, because
it is contained in the luggage compartment
cover. In the office, a PET bottle of water
stands on your desk (up to 50% of the in-
puts for its production are secondary raw
materials) and the highlighter you are using
also has a “relationship” with your PET bott-
le.
You cannot get rid of the presence of the
PET bottle even at the supermarket. If you
buy, for example, cheese or ham, their plas-
tic packaging is also has its base in our PET
bottle. In addition, all the goods that are
transported on pallets in bulk, whether to
super or hobby markets, are for safety rea-
sons tied on with strips made from flakes.
“Safety strips are the market of the future”,
explains Thomas Hinterwallner, Advisor of
the Executive Board of Directors from Ge-
neral Plastic. “Their importance is growing
on the EU market, where about 100 thou-
sand tons of them are produced and used
annually.”
Recycling prevents the
extraction of
non-renewable virgin
raw materials, such as
oil and gas, and reduces
energy consumption by
80 to 90%