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In France, more than 6 billion plastic bottles are thrown away each year. But where are they going? Here is what they become …
Every day, we throw away our plastic bottles without really knowing where they are going. However, they are part of the 10 most found waste on beaches, which questions their circuit. This is what happens according to three scenarios, from the best to the worst.
The sorting bin
The discarded bottle is taken to a sorting center where it is separated from other materials and then grouped together with other PET packaging (Polyethylene Terephthalate, a type of plastic). She then goes to one of the seven factories recycling this plastic, which crushes and washes it. In 2016, 30% of recycled PET became new bottles. For that, we add on average three quarters of new plastic. Otherwise, PET can be used again in textiles. For example, 67 recycled bottles are used to make a quilt. One tonne of recycled PET represents 2 tonnes of CO2 saved.
The “normal” trash can
Even today, more than 4 out of 10 bottles are not recycled. Badly discarded or badly collected, they will probably end up incinerated (30% of them) or in the landfill (15% of them).
Jetty in nature
If discarded in the wild, a plastic bottle will slowly break down into smaller and smaller pieces. These disperse and end up in soils, rivers and oceans. There, they risk injuring the animals which can also ingest them. An entire food chain can thus become contaminated by plastic.
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