Info on Recycling, Pollution, PETE Plastic Bottles, Green, Label, Labelling, Guidelines
Plastic is an incredible invention, and one that has improved our lives in countless ways through the decades. But there isn't one good reason—short of our unconscious habits—that we can't extend the life of every plastic bottle to create new and thoughtful products instead of having it take up space for centuries in landfill. Some people think of it simply as trash. But we say: trash is a terrible thing to waste(TM).
We've collected some fascinating information here*, to highlight the value of un-wasting, recycling, and up-cycling in our daily lives. We're here to help you make cleaner and greener choices, every day.
After that last thirst-quenching gulp, plastic soda and water bottles are discarded. We rescue these forgotten bottles at recycling centers, and help them go on to lead productive lives...
Soda and water bottles are sorted out to provide clean materials for our products.
Bottles are washed, crushed, and chopped into tiny flakes.
Flakes are "extruded," or melted and converted into fiber that’s stretched and baled, then woven into fabric.
Finished fabric creates eco-friendly bags that are durable, functional, and reusable.
Green Labeling Guidelines
The information below has been simplified for our use. For more detailed guidelines, please visit www.epa.gov or www.ftc.gov.
Recyclable—materials that can be re-processed and converted into new materials for the same product or a new product. According to the FTC, when a product is claimed to be recyclable, there must be proof that it can be recycled and converted into a usable product. Labels that say "Please recycle" do not mean that the product is recyclable. Depending on the item, products claimed to be recyclable can only be recycled if there is a recycling facility that collects and converts them; otherwise, it still ends up in our landfills. Call your local recycling agency to find out what is truly recycled in your area, and what is collected and sold to overseas companies where environmental guidelines are not as transparent.
Recycled—new products made from the re-processing of a recyclable material. This can either be pre-consumer or post-consumer. Recycled products vary in the amount of recycled content. If recycled content is less than 100%, it's made by mixing a portion of virgin raw materials with recycled materials. A recycled label must indicate what % of material content comes from recycled sources.
Re-usable—products that you can re-use over and over again, such as your clothes, shoes, cloth bags, etc. Remember that re-usable does not mean recycled, recyclable or biodegradable.
Pre-consumer waste—products obtained from manufacturing overruns or excesses, such as the remnants from apparel, paper, plastic, or steel industries.
Post-consumer waste—products obtained from used containers, packaging, or other user-discarded items. These may come from consumer products such as plastic bottles, medicine containers, paper, food packaging or from industrial facilities. Unless recycled, these items end up sitting in our landfills for centuries.
P.E.T. plastic bottle—P.E.T. or PETE in chemistry means polyethylene terephthalate. This is what clear soda and water bottles are made of. Identifiable with #1 in the recycling label, its chemical formulation includes petroleum and natural gas.
The Fascinating Truth about Plastic Bottles and Bags
- Did you know that it takes 700 years before a plastic bottle even begins to decompose in landfill?
- Americans will buy an estimated 25 billion single-serving plastic water bottles this year. 8 out of 10 (over 20 billion) will end up in landfill.
- Approximately 1 million plastic bags are used each minute worldwide in one year.
- An estimated 100 million tons of uncollected and unrecycled plastic debris is polluting our world's oceans and killing marine life.
- 1.5 million barrels of oil is used annually to produce plastic water bottles for America—enough to fuel about 100,000 U.S. cars for one year.
- Recycling a single plastic bottle can conserve enough energy to light a 60-watt light bulb for up to 6 hours.
- Woven P.E.T. is a polyester fabric that is up-cycled from recycled plastic bottles, reducing the need to use virgin oil and petroleum products.
Glass Recycles Forever
- Glass can be recycled indefinitely and never wears out.
- Every month, we throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. All of these jars are recyclable!
- The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.
- A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose—and even longer if it's in the landfill.
Saving Trees that Clean our Air
- Recycling 1 stack of newspapers 3 feet high saves an entire tree.
- Approximately 1 billion trees' worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S. That's enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
- Americans throw away enough office paper each year to build a 12-foot high wall of paper from NYC to Seattle.
- Every day Americans throw away 44 million newspapers, rather than recycling them. That's equivalent to dumping 500,000 trees into landfills each week.
- Recyclable paper products make up approximately 40% of trash in America.
Aluminum Named Most Appreciated Recyclable!
- Every 3 months, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial airline fleet.
- Manufacturing with recycled aluminum cans uses 95% less energy than using virgin materials.
- Between 1972 and 2003, Americans threw away over 1 trillion aluminum cans—enough to circle the earth 3,048 times. These 17.5 million tons of waste would be worth about $21 billion at today's market prices.
- If America recycled 85% of our aluminum cans annually, we could save about 600,000 tons of aluminum annually.
- You can make 20 cans from recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make 1 new can.
Turning Trash into Profit, Jobs, and Products
- The plastics recycling industry currently provides jobs for more than 52,000 American workers. Imagine how many Americans would be employed if even half of our plastic was recycled!
- Recycling in the US is a $236 billion/year industry. More than 56,000 recycling and reuse enterprises employ 1.1 million workers nationwide.
- Between 2005-2007, the ITC estimates that the U.S. imported over 500 million plastic bags at a value of over $4 billion.
- The construction costs of a paper mill designed to use waste paper is 50 to 80% less than the cost of a mill using new pulp.
