PET Recycling Bottle Chain: Article Summary
By: Timothy Ethridge
Ed 498
July 22, 2011
The article entitled PET Bottle Recycling Chain Opportunities for the Generation
Of Employment and Income discusses the recycling factors surrounding polyethylene
terephthalate bottles (PET) and the condition of recycling in recent years. Like most recyclables,
PET, after use, are to be placed in a standard recycle container then disposed of properly. PET
bottles can be reused in the marketplace. PET bottles generally contain Water, Mineral Water,
Soft drinks, and any basic bottled beverage. The majority of the information and statistical date
presented in the article was taken and researched in Brazil, South America.
A study revealed that the use of recyclable materials from 1950 to 2009 has increased
from five million tons to a staggering one hundred million tons. That is a dramatic increase in
use of materials in the last sixty years. It is environmentally damaging to continue wasting
resources at the rate in which the world is going. Recycling PET bottles is an effective way of
dramatically reducing the use of these resources. By using then cleaning and reusing the same
PET bottles, we can reduce the harm to the environment.
The article addresses the issue of PET bottles being disposed of improperly. It mentions
landfills and how wasteful it would be to simply toss away such reusable resources. The
environment would be in a much better condition if dumps and landfills were to remove PET
containers from them and initiated them into the proper recycling processes. The article states
that in order to properly understand the harmful side effects of wasting such a vital and easily
reusable resource, one should know the extensive methods that go into the development of PET
bottles.
Later, the article considers the Brazilian population and describes how low income
families in Brazil use the PET recycling system in exchange for money. Some families rely
heavily on this recycling money system in order to provide for their families. Parts of Brazil are
still very fledgling and under-developed and these third-world like places need to find income
elsewhere, such as the PET bottle recycle chain.
The PET bottle recycle chain is a very extensive chain that involves a number of steps,
each of which are described in full detail over the length of the article. There are ten lengths to
the PET bottling recycle chain; 1.)Preforms 2.)Bottling 3.) Distribution 4.) Consumption 5.)
Dry/Conventional Waste 6.)Landfills/Sorting Centre 7.)Sale of Bales 8.) Middlemen
9.)Recycling Plants 10.) Manufacturers.
The rest of the article discusses the various processes and methods involved with each
link of the chain and how they each affect the product as it passes from stage to stage. Following
the specifics of each chain link, the article goes into an extensive description of job opportunities
and other possible sources of income available from the PET bottle recycling chain.
In conclusion, the PET Bottle Recycling Chain Opportunities for the Generation
Of Employment and Income article is a great article that discusses the positive aspects of
recycling PET bottles with specific studies taken in Brazil. It describes in full the chain of events
that take place in the PET recycling chain. Lastly it discusses the job and income opportunities
that come with the various links in the recycling chain. In closing the article gives great advice
and an excellent summary that concludes and reviews everything previously discussed.
Ultimately, recycling is a wonderful thing and without recycling our environment would be in a
significantly worst state than what is in already.
Works Cited
Nascimento, L., Trevisan, M., Figueiró, P. S., & Bossle, M. B. (2010). PET Bottle Recycling
Chain. Greener Management International, (56), 43-56. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.