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June 11, 2007

The PET Bottle Glut - Looking for Solutions

petbottles.jpgNPR has a great little piece today about the destiny of the (cue Carl Sagan) billions and billions of plastic water bottles that we go though every year, the majority of which end up in a landfill.

About 23% however, do wind up being recycled into various uses, typically carpeting or other downcycled products. Interestingly the majority of this new-found raw material is shipped to China. Although it's very interesting that China has found a way to purchase and profit from our waste, what peaks my interest most is wondering about the remaining 77% of PET bottles that are being tossed in landfills. Sound's like a monumental business opportunity to me.

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This does sound like a great business opportunity. Have you ever heard of any ideas which could take the PET waste and turn it back into a technical nutrient, or otherwise keep from downcycling it?

» Steve Puma [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 11, 2007 11:27 AM

A 5 or 10 deposit on all such bottles will produce an army of PET recyclers.

» slanted tom at June 11, 2007 2:29 PM

Here you go on that 5 or 10 cent deposit - Oregon ahead of the curve: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/LEGISLATURE/706080341/1042

It's about time - the disposable water bottle thing is ridiculous.

Especially since in many areas, the quality of tap water is better, while bottled water is, as the below article notes, "subject to less rigorous testing and purity standards than those which apply to city tap water." http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/nbw.asp

» Jon Gelbard at June 11, 2007 8:31 PM

Here's a gem that demonstrates that the bottled water frenzy is not just wasteful, but is also pretty dumb: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=728070&page=1And

I love the subhead: Americans are spending billions on a drink that is virtually free.

Then again, another headline today read that the majority of Americans believe the earth is no more than 10,000 years old...

» Jon Gelbard at June 11, 2007 8:46 PM

in israel there is a factory that is making plastic furniture from bottells the name of the factory is aviv: avivplastic.co.il.
at the botom of their site there is a boton for english.
also you can make from bottles fibers,from the fibers you can make clothes

» gabriel at June 23, 2007 1:12 PM

in israel there is a factory that is making plastic furniture from bottells the name of the factory is aviv: avivplastic.co.il.
at the botom of their site there is a boton for english.
also you can make from bottles fibers,from the fibers you can make clothes

» gabriel at June 23, 2007 1:14 PM

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