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Originally Posted by cmac2012
I wonder what they do with all the plastic bottles they encourage you to bring in for recycling? Word is little of it is recycled. No market apparently.
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plastic bottles are separated by color, washed, de-labled, and melted down. The molten plastic is extruded into fibers. These fibers are used to make many items, including polarfleece. Synthetic fleece is almost completely comprised of reclaimed soda bottles. Also, there is a large use of this material in the carpet industry. Mohawk has a plant in Georgia where you can watch the bottles go in and carpet come out. It's pretty cool.
Chances are, you've also seen synthetic lumber. This is usually made from plastic milk jugs.
However, you are correct in your understanding that these uses do not begin to consume the vast quantities of plastic bottle waste in this country. The piece in the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" bit that they forget to mention is: Buy ONLY recycled. Post consumer content information is available on many consumer goods- including toilet paper, greeting cards, and warm jackets. Not so much at Wal-mart, however...