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.