Plastic bottles are not trash.
Recycling PET bottles has saved
460 000 m3 of landfill space.
In 2016, recycling PET bottles created an estimated 62 000 income opportunities.
PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) is an incredibly sophisticated plastic most commonly used to manufacture bottled-water and cool-drink packaging. But after it’s been used, PET can be recycled into many new and useful products, including being turned back into bottles. It’s too valuable to be thrown in with the rubbish.
But how do we get PET bottles to be recycled and away from ending up in landfill? That’s where PETCO comes in. We take responsibility, on behalf of the PET industry, to advertise, promote and educate everyone from schools and municipalities to burgeoning recycling business on the value of recycling PET bottles.
PET packaging can be made from up to 100% recycled PET, recapturing both the material and the inherent energy of the original package.
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As with virgin PET, recycled PET (rPET) can be used to make many new products
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Plastic bottles are valuable. And this value creates income opportunities for informal collectors.
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Recycling PET bottles over the last ten years has saved a total of 651 000 tons of carbon, avoided using 2.7 million m3 of landfill space and reduced resource consumption.
+Modern living has driven the desire for convenience foods in ready-to-prepare and single-serve formats. This has given rise to all sorts of products that could not exist without packaging - like carbonated soft drinks, long life milk, ready meals and household chemicals, even electronic products like computers and TVs that need to work as soon as they're out the box.
But once it's performed this function, packaging takes on an entirely different face: it becomes cumbersome waste. By not considering the impact of packaging on the waste stream, the ugly and unwanted perception people have of packaging will continue.
The African Marine Waste Conference (AMWC 2017) is hosted by the African Marine Waste Network (AWMN), which was launched in July 2016 by the Sustainable Seas Trust (SST), Plastics SA and other partners in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. (more…)
Read morePETCO has shareholder and associate members. Our shareholder members are the visionary companies who pay levies and grants, and credit for funding PET recycling in South Africa goes to them. Our associate members are the amazing individuals, non-profits, schools, municipalities and other companies who are passionate about reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering. We salute you all.
Read more about all our members
