Before we explain how recycled bags are crafted, it is first good to know where the material comes from. Trillions of containers are made each year from Polyethylene terephthalate also known as PET. It is used as a raw material for manufacturing materials such as bottles and containers for packaging a wide range of food products and other consumer goods. Examples include soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, detergents, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products and edible oils. PET is one of the most common consumer plastics used and accumulates in the trillions of pounds each year.
The empty PET packaging is discarded by the consumer after use and becomes PET waste. known in the recycling industry as post-consumer PET". Many local governments and waste collection agencies have started to collect post-consumer PET separately from other household waste. The collected post-consumer PET is taken to recycling centers known as materials recovery facilities where it is sorted and separated from other materials like metal, rigid plastics, polypropylene, flexible plastics such as those used for bags (generally low density polyethylene), drink cartons, and anything else which is not made out of PET.
Once it has been seperated and processed the material ends up as a kind of stringy yarn when recycled from the PET bottles. After multiple extensive processes of cleaning, crushing, melting and spinning the PET into a fiber it is then used to weave the recycled PET bags. This is a new environmentally friendly fabric material via a superior manufacturing process and is passed through strict quality assurance tests. The diagram below illustrates the steps of the process from the PET bottle to the recycled end product of a reusable bag. |
