How Plastic Bottles are Recycled

When looking at your typical water bottle, it’s hard to envision that stiff plastic as part of a gentle carpet or cozy jacket filling, but that’s exactly what the future holds for many recycled bottles.

The Recycling Process

1. After bottles are collected at a recycling center, they are packed tightly into a large bale for shipping. Each bale weighs from 800 to 1,200 pounds and can contain 6,400 to 7,200 soda bottles.
2. Bales are shipped to a reclaiming company, where a machine called a bale breaker rips apart the bales. The pieces then go through a machine where they are shredded into tiny flakes, “like paper in a paper shredder,” according to Tom Lauria, vice president of the International Bottled Water Association.
3. After being washed and dried, the flakes are melted.
4. The liquid plastic is formed into pellets or beads, which can be developed into various plastic products. From here, the “possibilities are endless,” Lauria said.
5. The plastic is often spun into a very fine thread-like material through a process paralleling the spinning of cotton candy. This can be used to make carpets, clothing or filling for jackets and quilts. The thin plastic has good insulation properties.

Knowing this, don’t underestimate that water bottle; it might be keeping you warm and dry during the next big snow storm.