The Good plastics: P.E.T.
We are at war with Plastics today. One of our creations which proved to be a boon for us has now become a curse to our planet. Almost every item around us likely has some form of plastic composition. Scientists have estimated that by 2030 there will be more plastics than fish in our oceans. The terror of plastics pollution has also forced the government and big corporations are taking serious measures. Recently, the Indian government has declared that it is going to ban single-use plastics completely by 2025. These kinds of decisions do sound promising but do you think banning plastic is a holistic solution to the bigger problem? Do we really have to let go of this great invention? Are all plastics bad or harmful if we start smartly using them?
Plastic is a term used for all kinds of organic polymers. It’s a byproduct of petroleum and it is cheap to produce. However, the chemical composition of different plastics varies a lot. Some plastics can be easily recycled, some are not so easy while others cannot be recycled at all. We are going to look at the good side of plastics and is it possible to use them sustainably. PET or Polyethylene Terephthalate is one of such good plastics, it’s represented by the symbol 1. It is also the second most commonly used plastics in the world. Most popularly it is used to make bottles for your shelf beverages such as sodas, juices or just water. According to an annual report by the ocean conservancy, PET bottles and bottle caps rank as the third most collected plastic trash items. It is being produced in much larger amounts than how much is recycled. Almost 100000 plastic bottles are sold in just every minute but the beverage companies are only using 10–20% of recycled plastic. These plastic bottles take almost 450 years to degrade completely and which is why it is getting piled up everywhere. As a result, they either go to landfills, end up in open space, ponds or just keep lying around us as trash. Nobody has likely missed the sight of this condition in developing countries like in India.
The physical properties of PET make it a great choice for sturdy and cheap packaging to ship and store beverages and food items. PET has become a favorite choice for making drinking water bottles because of its transparency and it’s inertness to chemicals. It saves millions worth of money and energy compared to any other material. It can be recycled multiple times and converted into either bottles or other industrial products. Beyond packaging, it has a huge application in the fabric industry. From the jerseys of our Indian cricket team to your next pair of Nike shoes, all are made of recycled PET fabrics. There is a booming opportunity to make money out of recycled PET which is why despite the poor waste management by the government, India is one of the leaders in recycling PET bottles. It recycles almost 80% of the PET bottles which is way higher than a mere 30% done by the US. The recycling process is economical because the scrap pays a good price and it provides a good return when melted down to raw material form. It is a very lucrative business where even small and local businesses have found an opportunity to generate income. People are putting up numerous videos to teach people how to open your own recycling business in your backyard. Recycling of PET bottles has grown to become a Rs 3,500 crore industry and it’s expected to grow exponentially every year. Recycling plastics is not easy because most of the time it’s not feasible to segregate different types of plastics but, PET bottles can be easily identified and handpicked by rag pickers from the rest of the trash.
We can boost the recycling industry even more if we can increase the value of PET by finding out ways to reuse it on a larger scale. There have been several works going on and one of them is using PET bottles as a sustainable building material. Several researchers have found mud-filled PET bottle is a better replacement to mud bricks for building houses. It is not only cheaper but also more durable and fire-resistant. The wonderful properties of PET bottles can help build houses at much cheaper rates which can withstand natural hazards such as earthquakes and floods. Similarly, other plastics have their strengths and they are widely used in different industries as well as households such as HDPE and PPE. These are also easily recycled and can be reused as well.
The issue of the unsustainability of plastics is created due to the disbalance in the production and recycling amount. We need to constantly innovate our use of plastics and increase the efficiency of recycling. The government of India is deciding to ban the use of single-use plastics including PET by 2025. Big beverage corporations such as PepsiCo and Nestle have pledged to increase their use of recycled plastics up to 30%. It is our awareness that will force governments and other bodies to take the right actions which will prove to be economical and sustainable for us.
What we can do as individuals? It’s time to put knowledge into practice which we have only read in textbooks till now, the three R rules in textbooks, reduce, reuse, recycle. First, we can choose to buy our fruits and veggies from local farmers' markets rather than going to superstores. It is also a healthy choice to avoid using packaged products because they are only used to increase shelf life. Second, we should make smart choices on plastics. Instead of going for soft packaging, prefer buying products in containers which can be easily recycled later. Third, we should become responsible for the waste we are disposing of and make sure it is getting recycled. Throwing it in the trash isn’t enough and only our awareness will force the local bodies to take serious actions. Nobody will bother to think about our planet unless we do. Let’s start by making small changes to create a big impact. Do you have more ideas in mind? Please share with us and with everyone.
