Did you know…?
PET, i.e. plastic bottle (polyethylene terephthalate)
Decomposing:
50-80 years in nature when in contact with air
500-1,000 years when buried in soil, because bacteria don’t eat the main material of a plastic bottle – polyethylene
EPP collects ca. 4,300 tonnes of plastic bottles per year; this is approx. 90% of the total marketed quantity.
A plastic bottle gets a new life as:
– A new plastic bottle;
– Textile;
– Fastening tape.
Metal can
Aluminium can takes 200–500 years to decompose in nature
EPP collects ca. 1,300 tonnes of CANs per year; this is approx. 70% of the total marketed quantity.
A metal can gets a new life as:
– A new metal can;
– A car part;
– A construction element;
– An aluminium item.
The energy conserved by recycling one aluminium can is enough for e.g. watching TV for 3 hours. Making a new can from new raw material requires as much energy as contained in 2.2 litres of petrol.
Re-melting of aluminium waste conserves up to 95% of the energy required for making aluminium from primary raw material. Making a metal can out of recycled material is 20 times more efficient than making it out of primary raw material.
You can watch a video of recycling metal cans HERE; the video was produced by the European Aluminium Association.
OWG, i.e. one-way glass bottle
The decomposing time of a glass bottle is still unknown, because nobody has observed that process for so long.
– Glass bottle
– Soup jar
– Glass building
EPP collects ca. 4,500 tonnes of deposit-subjected glass bottles per year; this is approx. 85% of the total marketed quantity.
A glass bottle gets a new life as:
– A new glass bottle;
– A soup jar;
– Some other glass product.
The energy conserved by recycling one glass bottle is enough for e.g. 4 hours of light from a 100 W incandescent light bulb or making 2–3 cups of hot tea.
When melting glass, up to 80% of the raw material can be recycled glass.