The global environment is worsening with the passing of time. One of the reasons for this is the increase in the amount of non-degradable wastes like PET generated by the industries and households. PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) is used as a raw material for making packaging materials (such as bottles and containers for packaging a wide range of food products) and also Polyester yarns. PET is one of the most common consumer plastics used. |
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In order to reduce this waste, PET needs to be recycled. |
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| Advantages of recycling PET are: |
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Reduction in the demand for non-renewable fossil fuels which is the source for raw material for plastic production. Plastic production uses 8% of the world's oil production. |
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Reduction in the amounts of solid non-degradable waste going to landfill. |
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| The process of Recycling PET is as follows: |
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Step 1:- Collection of PET waste
The empty PET packaging is discarded by the consumer after use and becomes PET waste. In the recycling industry, this is referred to as "post-consumer PET." Many local governments and waste collection agencies have started to collect post-consumer PET separately from other household waste. In India, collecting waste bottles is a source of livelihood for a section of people. |
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Step 2: Sorting of PET waste
Post-consumer PET is often sorted into different colour fractions: transparent or uncoloured PET, blue and green coloured PET, and the remainder into a mixed colours fraction. |
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Step 3: Crushing & Pressing
This sorted post-consumer PET waste is crushed, pressed into bales and passed on to the next process. |
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Step 4: Shredding
The crushed and pressed bales are further shred into small fragments. These fragments still contain residues of the original content, shredded paper labels and plastic caps. These are removed by different processes, resulting in pure PET fragments, or "PET flakes" |
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Step 5: Polymerization
The value of PET flakes is further enhanced by Solid State Polymerization (SSP) process |
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Step 5: Extrusion of Fiber
The polymerized flakes are extruded as fibers from the spinneret. Earlier only coarse fibers could be made from recycled PET due to which they were used for fillers, nonwoven textiles etc. With the advancement of technology nowadays finer fibers can be produced. These fibers are used to make a variety of fancy Polyester yarns for application in Home and Apparel fabrics. |
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Step 6: Spinning & Weaving
These fibers are then put through a conventional system of staple spinning to get finer Polyester yarns. These yarns can be dyed or used undyed. Fabrics are then woven on looms using these dyed (or undyed) yarns. The loom state fabric is then processed and finished for the final market |
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| This completes our cycle of recycling the waste bottle. |
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| We at Vrijesh use these Polyester fibers produced from recycled PET flakes to make fashionable Polyester fabrics.
We call this 'Fashion with a Conscience". |
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| Approximately10-11 PET bottles (of 500 ml) can be recycled to produce 1 meter of our usual fabric. |
