It has recycling code of 1 and is most commonly used for packaging of beverage and other food containers. Instead of ending up in landfill, PET bottles and other post consumer products are collected and recycled to make raw materials for new applications such as the material that Trolley Buddy bags are made from.

Did you know?

• Polyethylene Terephthalate or PET is the type of plastic used to make soft drink bottles and some water and juice bottles.

• Your old PET bottles can be made into new bottles, fleecy jackets, clear film for packaging and carpets and more!

• Recycling PET bottles saves 84% of the energy it takes to make new PET bottles from raw materials.

How does the PET I put in my recycling bin or drop off get made into new products?

Your old PET is taken from your kerbside bins or from your local recycling centre drop off point and brought to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) – a highly specialised factory designed to sort, separate and prepare recyclable materials for transport and sale. This is where the recycling process begins!

At the MRF the PET is hand sorted from a conveyor belt and compacted into large bales. These bales are transported to a plastics recycling plant where they are cleaned, chopped and made into PET pellets or flake. These pellets or flake are ready to be heated and shaped into new PET products.

How many times can PET be recycled?

Plastic loses some of its original quality through recycling. This is caused by specks of dirt, contamination and the fact that the original molecular make-up can change. So it is not easy to make PET back into the product it was. If some raw material is added, PET can be recycled into the same product. Alternatively, the PET may be made into a different product such as a Trolley Buddy!

Research has shown that over 90% of a single PET bottle can be recycled to polyester yarns.

In addition, during the process of production, PET recycled yarns consume less energy than normal polyester yarns do.

Statistics

• Plastic bags may inevitably end up in the ocean, severely damging marine life. Each year, at least 100,000 birds, whales and turtles are killed by plastic bags. On land, they can block drains, trap birds and kill livestock, who mistake plastic bag litter for food.

• At least 80 million plastic bags end up as litter on our beaches, streets and parks.

Source: www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/services/waste/plasticbagreduction.htm#5

• Australian retailers pay an extra $850 million for plastic bags annually. These are added to product costs. Trolley Buddy will not only cut costs for you, the consumer, but those who provide services. Money saved on plastic bags can be spent on improving these services!

• In Australia, the annual average cost per household for plastic shopping bags is estimated at $10-15 per year.
• Plastic bags are manufactured from non-renewable resources - oil and gas.
• Plastic bags take between 15 and 1,000 years to break down in the environment.
• Plastic shopping bags appeared in the Top Ten Rubbish Items in the 2006 Clean Up Australia Day Rubbish Report.

Recycled Polyester

The majority of the world’s PET production – about 60% – is used to make fibres for textiles; about 30% is used to make bottles. Source: www.oecotextiles.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/why-is-recycled-polyester-considered-a-sustainable-textile

By recycling polyester, the need for oil drops and waste is reduced. Toxins needed in order to burn waste decreases, leading to a decrease of pollution in the air.

By buying Trolley Buddy, you are not only supporting a local business but the programs

“Bag Yourself a Better Environment” and “Say NO to Plastic Bags”, run by Clean Up Australia.

Trolley Buddy bags can be used not just at the supermarket - take them every time you go shopping!

What people say

``The outcomes of Clean Up Australia's Bag Yourself a Better Environment Program show that people are willing to use alternatives if they are offered and very happy to recycle if the facility is available. It has been shown that most people know that plastic bags are choking our environment, options other than plastic bags must be made available to them.''

Clean Up Australia chairman Ian Kiernan.