INTRODUCTION

PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic resin & a form of polyester. PET is a polymer that is formed by combining two monomers 1. Modified ethylene glycol 2. Purified terephthalic acid PET is a type of plastic labeled with the #1 code on or near the bottom of bottles or containers and is commonly used to package of soft drinks, water, juice, peanut butter, bakery goods,frozen foods,salad dressings and oils, cosmetics and household cleaner many other products. PET is a popular package for food and non food products.Manufacturer use PET plastics to package products because of its strength, thermostability and transparency. Customers choose PET because it is inexpen sive, lightweight, resealable, shatter-resistant recyclable.

WHY RECYCLING OF PET IS NECESSARY

According to the American Chemistry Council, PET has been approved as safe by the FDA and the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). In 1994, ILSI stated that "PET polymer has a long history of safe consumer use, which is supported by human experience and numerous toxicity studies." The American Chemistry Council cautions that products made with PET be used only as indicated by the manufacturer. For example, the microwavable trays are only to be used one time and not to store or prepare foods other than those for which they are intended. Recent studies have shown that reusing bottles made of PET can in fact be dangerous. PET was found to break down over time and leach into the beverage when the bottles were reused. The toxin DEHA also appeared in the water sample from reused water bottles. DEHA has been shown to cause liver problems, other possible reproductive difficulties, and is suspected to cause cancer in humans. Therefore, it's best to recycle these bottles without reusing them.

How Quickly Does PET Breakdown?

PET(E) - This is the easiest plastic to recycle. Add to it that these materials are relatively cheap and you have the perfect container for soda bottles, water bottles, clamshell packaging, potato chip bags, produce bags and several other grocery-type packaging. Actual breakdown time for this type of plastic under perfect conditions can range from 5 to 10 years.

In a Landfill, How Long Does Trash Really Last?

Weve all been thereat the beach, empty beer bottle in hand, a trash can, but no recycling bin in sight. So we dump the bottle in the normal trash, perhaps feeling guilty we werent able to recycle it, perhaps not. Most likely, we rapidly forget about itout of sight, out of mind, and onto the next beer. The bottle, like the rest of our trash, may slip easily from our hands and minds, but it doesnt leave our collective refuse piles so quickly. Landfills, which are lined with clay and plastic, layered with soil, and capped, are not extremely hospitable when it comes to microbial degradation. The three necessary components for decompositionsunlight, moisture, oxygenare hard to come by in a landfill; items are more likely to mummify than to break down. But how long do things last? These rough estimates, compiled from U.S. National Park Service, United States Composting Council, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Sciences, and the New York City government, give an idea of how long our consumables remain after weve kissed them goodbye. Glass BottleOne Million Years Okay, we dont really know whether a glass bottle takes a million years, two million years, or a million years and one day to degrade since no one has been monitoring them for that long. But suffice it to say, when a glass bottle isnt recycled, it sticks around for a really, really long time. Glass is primarily of composed of silicathe same material as sandand doesnt break down even under the harshest environments. Given the relatively inert conditions of a landfill, its likely the bottle of beer our forefathers sipped is still at large. Plastic BagsUnknown, Possibly 500+ Years Plastic bags also have a hard time decomposing; estimates range from ten to twenty years when exposed to air to 5001,000 years in a landfill. Since microbes dont recognize polyethylenethe major component of plastic bagsas food, breakdown rates by this means in landfills is virtually nil. Though plastic bags can photodegrade, sunlight in landfills is scarce. Made with petroleum and rarely recycled, many cities have banned them in order to curb consumption and prevent their long-lasting presence in litter (e.g., the Great Pacific Garbage Patchan island you dont want to
visit).

Plastic Beverage BottlesUnknown, Possible 500+ years Bottles face the same problem as plastic bags. Most soda and water bottles are composed of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a petroleumbased product that tends to last a long time in a landfill. Even newer bottles that claim to be biodegradable or photodegradable may take much longer than advertised. According to the Air and Waste Association, biodegradable plastics made with the addition of starch may just simply disintegrate into smaller non-degradable pieces: they dont break down; they break up.

Global statistics
Worldwide, approximately 5.8 million tons of PET were collected in 2009. This gave 4.7 million tons of flake. 3.4 million tons were used to produce fibre, 500,000 tons to produce bottles, 500,000 tons to produce APET sheet for thermoforming, 200,000 tons to produce strapping tape and 100,000 tons for miscellaneous applications. Petcore, the European trade association that fosters the collection and recycling of PET, reported that in Europe alone, 1.45 million tonnes of PET bottles were collected in 2010 - more than 48.3% of all bottles. After exported bales were taken into account, 975,000 tons of PET flake were produced. 382,000 tons were used to produce fibres, 244,000 tons to produce more bottles, 221,000 tons to produce APET sheets, 93,000 tons for strapping tape and 33,000 tons for miscellaneous applications.

Re-use of PET bottles

PET bottles are also recycled as-is (re-used) for various purposes, including for use in school projects, and for use in solar water disinfection in developing nations, in which empty PET bottles are filled with water and left in the sun to allow disinfection by ultraviolet radiation. PET is useful for this purpose because most other materials (including glass) that are transparent to visible light are opaque to ultraviolet radiation.