Every day in Australia we consume 9,600 tons of plastic, and globally we produce 1 million bottles every minute. Now we're getting better at recycling and attitudes are changing, but the question still lingers - are plastic bottles actually being recycled?
Every day in Australia we consume 9,600 tons of plastic, and globally we produce 1 million bottles every minute. Now we're getting better at recycling and attitudes are changing, but the question still lingers - are plastic bottles actually being recycled?
A sustainable recycling system is when items are recycled then reused in the manufacturing process in place of raw materials. This incredible film by TOMRA Australia tracks the journey of a plastic bottle from the time it is used, returned through a container deposit scheme, then recycled into a new bottle again.
Every day in Australia we consume 9,600 tons of plastic, and globally we produce 1 million bottles every minute. Now we’re getting better at recycling and attitudes are changing, but the question still lingers – are plastic bottles actually being recycled?
What happens to a plastic bottle when you return it to a container return point? The bottles and other eligible drinking containers are picked up and transported to a purpose-built facility to be sorted into commodities ready for sale. The facility processes about five to six million containers per day, at approximately six thousand containers a minute. For plastic bottles and containers, this creates a bale weighing approximately 400kg, which is almost equivalent to about 3 persons’ plastic consumption.
The bales are then sent to a recycling facility, which can produce approximately 100 tons a week of new plastic pellets. Recycling just one tonne of the material saves enough energy to power the home of a small family for an entire year. The plastic pellets are turned into pre-formed bottles which are then blown up at a bottling plant, ready to blown up into a full-sized plastic bottle for drinks.
So the answer is yes, your plastic bottle does get recycled, over and over again, into a new bottle.
TOMRA Cleanaway is the joint venture leveraging a dynamic combination of cutting-edge technology provided by TOMRA, global leader in reverse vending technology and Cleanaway, Australia’s largest waste management and resource recovery organisation. TOMRA Cleanaway is committed to providing community access to the Return and Earn Scheme for all citizens of NSW.
Cleanaway also provides collections in selected regions for Containers for Change in QLD and WA.